Healthy Bulletin

Keeping Pregnant Women Away From Acid Reflux Dilemma

2009-02-18T04:43:00.000-08:00

Many women tend to experience heartburn symptoms when they are still carrying their babies, and this happens for several reasons.

One of these is the increase of hormones in the women’s body while they are pregnant. The occurrence of this will result in softening the ligaments which function is to keep the lower esophageal sphincter (LES) firmly closed. When the LES rests at unsuitable periods, tendency is, this will let the gastric acid and food to reflux back to the esophagus and throat.

One more reason of experiencing heartburn during pregnancy is because the changes in the body and the development of the baby creates more pressure in the women’s stomach. Therefore, the stomach contents are forced right into the LES, and then to the esophagus.

However, there are several methods that a pregnant woman can observe to lessen the discomfort brought by heartburn. The following are good advices, although this may not remove the heartburn totally:

• Avoid the food that triggers heartburn. Examples of this are chocolates, spicy foods, citrus fruits and juices, mustard, tomatoes and tomato based products, fatty foods, fried foods, and highly seasoned dishes. Try to refer to medical specialists to know the complete list of foods to avoid Acid Reflux. Also, for foods that you may take which contains little danger of causing heartburn.

• Get rid of drinks that have caffeine, like tea, coffee, and soda. Too much of these will cause the LES to relax and let the acid to return into the esophagus.

• Stay away from alcohol beverages. This, like caffeine tends to relax the LES thus, creating the same effect—triggering heartburn.

• Avoid eating large meals. It is suggested that taking numerous small meals throughout the day will be better.

• Avoid rush in eating your meals. Chewing food thoroughly will really help in avoidance of heartburn, so better take your time in eating.

• Rest for at least three hours after having your last meal before taking your sleep.

• A pregnant woman is advised to take more glasses of water a day, at least 8 to 10 glasses, though this must be taken not just during meals. Through this, the stomach will expand, and then the LES will be given more pressure, obliging it to open inappropriately. Hence, it is really recommended to drink more water and other fluids in between meals.

• When sleeping elevate the head of the bed for at least six to eight inches. Try to sleep with an elevated head and shoulders through a wedge pillow. Through this, the gravity will work as much that it will keep the acids in your stomach in their place—in the stomach, not in the esophagus. Try to consult physicians to gain additional knowledge on how to relieve nighttime heartburn.

• Don’t wear tight fitting clothes. Tightness around the waist and stomach will trigger heartburn as it causes uneasiness.

• When bending, do it at the knees, not at the waist. This will avoid in creating too much pressure in the stomach.

• Don’t slouch; rather sit erect in a relaxing chair.

• Maintain a sensible amount of weight, too much weight and fatness will give more stress in your stomach. As a result, this will force stomach contents throughout the LES and to the esophagus. Stay with your doctors guidelines.

• Avoid smoking. Doctors stated that smoking could cause several effects to a pregnant woman, much that it can add to the possibility of experiencing heartburn.

HOW ALCOHOL AFFECTS THE BRAIN

2009-02-18T04:41:00.000-08:00

I once had the unusual, though unhappy, opportunity of observing the same phenomenon in the brain structure of a man, who, in a paroxysm of alcoholic excitement, decapitated himself under the wheel of a railway carriage, and whose brain was instantaneously evolved from the skull by the crash. The brain itself, entire, was before me within three minutes after the death. It exhaled the odor of spirit most distinctly, and its membranes and minute structures were vascular in the extreme. It looked as if it had been recently injected with vermilion. The white matter of the cerebrum, studded with red points, could scarcely be distinguished, when it was incised, by its natural whiteness; and the pia-mater, or internal vascular membrane covering the brain, resembled a delicate web of coagulated red blood, so tensely were its fine vessels engorged.

I should add that this condition extended through both the larger and the smaller brain, the cerebrum and cerebellum, but was not so marked in the medulla or commencing portion of the spinal cord.

The spinal cord and nerves.
--------------------------

The action of alcohol continued beyond the first stage, the function of the spinal cord is influenced. Through this part of the nervous system we are accustomed, in health, to perform automatic acts of a mechanical kind, which proceed systematically even when we are thinking or speaking on other subjects. Thus a skilled workman will continue his mechanical work perfectly, while his mind is bent on some other subject; and thus we all perform various acts in a purely automatic way, without calling in the aid of the higher centres, except something more than ordinary occurs to demand their service, upon which we think before we perform. Under alcohol, as the spinal centres become influenced, these pure automatic acts cease to be correctly carried on. That the hand may reach any object, or the foot be correctly planted, the higher intellectual centre must be invoked to make the proceeding secure. There follows quickly upon this a deficient power of co-ordination of muscular movement. The nervous control of certain of the muscles is lost, and the nervous stimulus is more or less enfeebled. The muscles of the lower lip in the human subject usually fail first of all, then the muscles of the lower limbs, and it is worthy of remark that the extensor muscles give way earlier than the flexors. The muscles themselves, by this time, are also failing in power; they respond more feebly than is natural to the nervous stimulus; they, too, are coming under the depressing influence of the paralyzing agent, their structure is temporarily deranged, and their contractile power reduced.

This modification of the animal functions under alcohol, marks the second degree of its action. In young subjects, there is now, usually, vomiting with faintness, followed by gradual relief from the burden of the poison.

Effect on the brain centres.
----------------------------

The alcoholic spirit carried yet a further degree, the cerebral or brain centres become influenced; they are reduced in power, and the controlling influences of will and of judgment are lost. As these centres are unbalanced and thrown into chaos, the rational part of the nature of the man gives way before the emotional, passional or organic part. The reason is now off duty, or is fooling with duty, and all the mere animal instincts and sentiments are laid atrociously bare. The coward shows up more craven, the braggart more boastful, the cruel more merciless, the untruthful more false, the carnal more degraded. ' In vino veritas ' expresses, even, indeed, to physiological accuracy, the true condition. The reason, the emotions, the instincts, are all in a state of carnival, and in chaotic feebleness.

Finally, the action of the alcohol still extending, the superior brain centres are overpowered; the senses are beclouded, the voluntary muscular prostration is perfected, sensibility is lost, and the body lies a mere log, dead by all but one-fourth, on which alone its life hangs. The heart still remains true to its duty, and while it just lives it feeds the breathing power. And so the circulation and the respiration, in the otherwise inert mass, keeps the mass within the bare domain of life until the poison begins to pass away and the nervous centres to revive again. It is happy for the inebriate that, as a rule, the brain fails so long before the heart that he has neither the power nor the sense to continue his process of destruction up to the act of death of his circulation. Therefore he lives to die another day.

Diet to lower Triglyceride and Cholesterol

2009-02-18T04:39:00.000-08:00

When people undergo a blood test, there are four things that the doctor will review carefully before revealing the results to the patient. These are namely the LDL, HDL, triglyceride level and total cholesterol.

If any of these are way above the normal range, the doctor will make some recommendations before it is too late. The most common advice given is to make changes in the diet. This is because the numbers that come out can improve dramatically by changing the food being eaten.

People are well aware of what LDL and HDL is which is basically the good and bad cholesterol in the bloodstream. There isn’t that much said about a triglyceride and is often referred to just as a type of fat.

So what happens when there is too much triglyceride in the body? When a patient has too much of this in the blood, this puts the person at a greater risk of succumbing to heart disease.

The food being eaten can make this go up or down even if the individual is not allowed to eat for at least 14 hours before the checkup. The normal range should fall between 10 and 250 mgs./dl, which unfortunately a lot of people exceed.

Studies show that many patients who have high triglyceride levels also have high total cholesterol levels. It is a good thing that it is possible to kill two birds with one stone by having a dietitian prepare a simple diet plan.

The basic plan involves eating foods that are low in fat. Breakfast for example can be whole grain breads with a little touch of egg whites. The person should stop drinking coffee and replace this with unsweetened tea. Those who prefer milk should use non-fat or try some fresh juice instead.

Breakfast may have been light so the individual can have chicken without skin or the choice of lean cut meats such as flank, round, rump or sirloin served with some vegetables on the side.

Drinking bottled water is much healthier than ordering a can of diet soda because this still has certain properties that are not good for someone who is trying to cut down on cholesterol intake.

Those who want to get a quick bite as a snack can have fruit or vegetables strips. The person won’t find this in the store so getting up a little earlier in the morning or preparing this the night before is a good idea so the plastic container can be put into the bag before going to work.

Dinner must also be light because the body will soon rest and will not burn that much calories when one is sleeping. Steamed fish will do well or a little pasta. The individual can have a glass of red wine with the meal to help it go down into the belly.

The practice of this healthy habit must not only be done when eating home cooked meals. This should also be done when dining out with friends because a slight disruption in the plan can have certain consequences to someone who is trying to make some lifestyle changes.

Living a healthy life free from high levels of triglyceride and cholesterol can be achieved. It just takes a little determination and discipline to make this happen.

Facts About Nutrition Labels

2009-02-18T04:37:00.000-08:00

The nutrition label located on each and every food item,
will tell you all the information about that food. For
some however, this information isn't exactly that reader
friendly. Fear not, as it's actually easier than you
think.

Serving Size
This size is based on the amount people eat. Similar
food items will have similar serving sizes, thus making
it easier to compare 2 foods of the same category.

% Daily Value
This indicates how food will fit in a 2,000 calorie
diet. This will help you to understand if the food
has a lot, or just a little of the important nutrients.

The middle section
The nutrients you'll find listed in the middle section
are the ones that are most important to your health.
This information can help you to calculate your daily
limit of fat, fiber, sodium, and other nutrients.

Vitamins & minerals
The percent daily value found here is the exact same
as the U.S. Recommended Daily Allowance for vitamins
and minerals.

Now that you know what the nutrition label actually
means, it'll be a lot easy to eat healthy. Eating
healthy is a great thing - especially when you use the
nutrition label to assist you with your food choices.

Nutritional Supplements

2009-02-18T04:34:00.000-08:00

For many years, people have been talking about and taking nutritional supplements. What started out as natural herbs, has now grown into a trend that people use on a daily basis. These days, you can find supplements more sophisticated than ever, available in many different forms such as liquid, capsules, pills, and teas. There are some that are still home grown, although they aren’t as popular as those that are commercially supplied.

In general, nutritional supplements are taken to help with diets that are missing vital nutrients and minerals. They come in many different forms as stated above, and provide one or more of vital sources such as vitamins, minerals, herbs, and amino acids. Although they aren’t intended to replace meals, nutritional supplements can be taken to enhance your diet.

There are many reasons why you should take nutritional supplements. One reason, is the environment. With the environment rapidly changing, there is more toxin in the air, in the water we drink, and the foods we eat. With our bodies having to work twice as hard to eliminate these toxins, it is always wise to take supplements and help our bodies to get rid of the harmful toxins.

Stress is also a factor on your body. Stress can put your body at risk for many different things, such as a lower resistance for diseases. Therefore, if you take supplements, you can get your immune system built back up and help your body function a lot better. There are many different nutritional supplements you can take, such as glyconutrients, that will help you combat stress.

One of the main reasons to take nutritional supplements is due to poor eating habits. Those who have busy lifestyles, sometimes don’t eat as healthy as they should. Often times, it can be very hard to take the necessary time to eat a healthy meal. Whenever we can’t get a healthy meal, we can always look towards supplements. They will enhance our diets and give us the nutrients that our bodies need for energy, health, and many other purposes.

Those of us that are athletic or exercise, will need more nourishment for the body. As you work out or play sports your body will need more nutrition. Some good examples of supplements include protein, vitamins, and minerals. You can find them in many different foods, or use vitamins and nutritional supplements that contain them.

If you are looking to lose weight, nutritional supplements may come in handy. Anytime you decide to diet, you eat much less and may end up missing on foods that contain essential vitamins and minerals. If you take some nutritional supplements on the other hand, your body won’t miss any of the important vitamins and minerals it needs. To make things even better, you can also get supplements that will help you lose weight as well, along with giving your body everything it needs to function and carry out your normal everyday routine.

No matter how you look at it, nutritional supplements are great for many things. You find them in your local GNC or nutrition store, or online. There are many different supplements to choose from, giving you everything you need to get the right nutrients and vitamins. If you’ve been looking for a way to get the nutrients, vitamins, and minerals your body needs - look no further than nutritional supplements. They are available at a great price - with many excellent manufactures offering you plenty of innovative products.

Vitamin E And Your Body

2009-02-14T06:31:00.001-08:00

We all know that oxygen is a primary component that is needed for life. This very same oxygen, once inside of the body, becomes very reactive through certain molecules and will start to cause damage through the free radicals, which is known as oxidative stress. As an antioxidant, vitamin E will help to prevent this type of stress, which will prevent the cells from aging or sustaining any type of permanent damage as well.

Cholesterol, which is a fatty substance found in many foods, is absorbed by the body then transferred from the liver to be stored by tissue as fat. This is carried through the bloodstream by molecules known as LDL (Low Density Lipoproteins). When the LDL is oxidized, it reacts to the cholesterol and a fat substance known as plaque begins to get deposited on the artery walls, which causes the blood flow to stop.

Vitamin E will stop cholesterol from forming into plaque, which will allow the blood to flow properly. If you don’t use vitamin E, in this situation, the blood will stop flowing and the arteries will begin to get backed up. As most of us know, this is the main cause of heart attacks, high blood pressure, and other serious diseases.

Even though many researchers and doctors have linked vitamin E to preventing cancer, this hasn’t been conclusively proven. There are many doctors that have said in the past that vitamin E can indeed prevent cancer, although no documentation or proof has been given to back up such statements. We all know that it is a very important vitamin, regardless.

There are studies however, that have proven vitamin E to be very effective in protecting the skin against UV rays. Vitamin E has been shown on numerous occasions to shield the skin from the harmful rays of the sun, which as we all know, can lead to skin cancer. If you include sources of vitamin E, or supplements in your diet you can help to prevent the damage of UV rays to your skin.

Along with these types of benefits, vitamin E can also protect against alzheimer’s disease and inflammation of the pancreas. This vitamin can also be very beneficial with reducing scars, and healing many types of burns and wounds. Included in your diet, vitamin E can help your skin to heal from many discrepancies over time.

When included with vitamin C, vitamin E can be one of the most important vitamins for your body. It offers many different benefits, besides the ones listed above. You can find it in many different forms, including fruits and nuts. Fruits are excellent sources of vitamin E, especially oranges. Oranges have always been known to be rich in this vitamin, whether you are consuming whole oranges or just drinking orange juice. If you are drinking orange juice that contains pulp, you’ll be getting plenty of vitamin E in your diet.

All things aside, you should always make sure that you include vitamin E in your diet. Along with fruits and nuts, you can also find this vitamin plentiful in vegetables as well. You can include it into your diet, or take supplements that provide it. You should be getting around 1,000 mg of the vitamin a day, which isn’t hard to do if you eat the right foods. If you consume the right amount of vitamin E in your diet, you’ll notice that your body will perform much better - and you’ll be well protected against numerous diseases as well.

The Best Low Cholesterol Diet Plan

2009-02-14T06:29:00.000-08:00

If you want to lower your cholesterol levels, following an ideal diet may be able to help you a lot. It has been known for a long time now that the food a person eats or is accustomed to eating daily can have a direct relation in the body's cholesterol levels.

And it is important for people to lower their cholesterol levels because cholesterol has been associated with the development of coronary heart disease. The higher the level of blood cholesterol levels in an individual, the more likely it is that he will be developing heart disease later on. Aside from that high cholesterol levels can also put a person at risk of suffering from a stroke or a heart attack.

Aside from using drugs to lower cholesterol levels, following a low cholesterol diet is the next best thing to keep your cholesterol levels down. Eating more vegetables, soy products and other low cholesterol foods can be just as effective at reducing blood cholesterol as medication. A study has been able to show that a vegetarian diet can lower cholesterol by as much as one-third in just a month.

The best cholesterol-lowering diet that you can follow usually includes a hearty serving of vegetables such as broccoli and red peppers. Soymilk and soy sausages, oat bran cereal and bread as well as plenty of fruits and nuts make up a complete low cholesterol diet. Soy protein, nuts, and fiber rich food such as oats and barley can effectively cut cholesterol levels by up to seven percent.

A low cholesterol diet also requires you to minimize your intake of saturated fat by seven percent and other fat substances by 25-35 percent. It has been discovered that the best diet for avoiding coronary heart disease includes consuming non-hydrogenated (unprocessed) fats rather than the hydrogenated variety. Increased consumption of omega-3 fats from fish, fish oil or plant sources such as flaxseeds is the suggested fat intake in a low cholesterol diet. With a low cholesterol diet, one should also limit daily sodium intake somewhere in the level of 2400 milligrams daily.

A typical day on the low cholesterol diet would include a hearty breakfast of soymilk, oat bran cereal with chopped fruit and almonds, oatmeal bread, vegetable-based margarine and jam. A typical low cholesterol lunch would comprise of soy cold cuts, oat bran bread, bean soup and a dessert of fruit. For dinner, stir-fry vegetables, tofu, fruit and almonds would be the usual low cholesterol diet fare. Following this type of low cholesterol diet religiously for long periods, it is possible for one's cholesterol level to drop by as much as 29 percent in just a month.

An All-Around Yoga Exercise: 12-Step Salute to the Sun

2009-02-14T06:27:00.000-08:00

One of the all-around yoga exercises is the 12-step salute to the sun. Do it once or twice when you get up in the morning to help relieve stiffness and invigorate the body. Multiple repetitions at night will help you to relax; insomniacs often find that six to 12 rounds help them fall asleep.

1. Stand with your feet slightly apart, palms together, thumbs against your chest.

2. Inhale deeply while slowly raising your hands over your head, and bend back as far as possible, while tightening your buttocks. Hold for three seconds.

3. Slowly exhale and bend forward, keeping your knees straight, until your fingers touch the floor outside your feet. (If you can't touch the floor, go as close as you can.) Bring your head in toward your knees.

4. Slowly inhale, bend your knees, and if your fingertips aren't outside your feet on the floor, place them there. Slide your right foot back as far as you can go, with the right knee an inch or so off the floor, (a lunge position). Now look up as high as possible, arching your back.

5. Before exhaling again, slide your left foot back until it is beside the right one, and with your weight supported on your palms and toes, straighten both legs so that your body forms a flat plane. Make sure your stomach is pulled in.

6. Slowly exhale, bend both knees to the floor, bend with your hips in the air, lower your chest and forehead to the floor.

7. Now inhale slowly and look up, bending your head back, then raising it, followed by your upper chest, then lower chest. Your lower body - from the navel down - should be on the floor, and your elbows should be slightly bent. Hold for three to five seconds.

8. Exhale slowly and raise your hips until your feet and palms are flat on the floor and your arms and legs are straight in an inverted V position.

9. Inhale slowly and bring your right foot forward as in position 4. The foot should be flat on the floor between your fingertips. The left leg should be almost straight behind you, with its knee slightly off the floor. Raise your head, look up, and arch your back.

10. Slowly exhale and bring your left foot forward next to your right one. Straighten your legs and stand, trying to keep your fingertips on the floor, and try to touch your head to your knees as in position 3.

11. Slowly inhale, raise your arms up and stretch back as in position 2. Don't forget to tighten your buttocks. Hold for three seconds.

12. Slowly exhale, lowering your arms to your sides. Relax. Repeat the series.

Yoga for Women: How to Gain a Shapely Waist through Yoga

2009-02-14T06:26:00.000-08:00

The size of the waist is an indication of overall fitness for many people. Most health experts agree that a smaller waist is healthier than a big one. The reasoning behind this is that increases in fat around the waist usually result in increased health risks such as diabetes, high cholesterol and blood pressure.

In evolutionary and biological terms, a small waist signifies youth and vitality. But doing endless workouts of crunches alone will not allow you to achieve that Venus-like waist of your dreams. You will need to supplement specific waist-orientated exercises with ones from various disciplines.

Specifically you will need to work the inner girdle of muscles - commonly known as the core muscles - with slow abdominal exercises that work very deep into these muscle groups.

While usually associated with building flexibility, some specific exercises from yoga-based workouts also target the underlying core muscles around the waist.

Eliminate seafood

2009-02-14T06:14:00.000-08:00

It’s actually pretty easy to eliminate red meat and poultry from our diets. When you give any thought whatsoever, the reasons are so compelling to stop eating them. Your reasons may be physical, because you need to lower your cholesterol or blood pressure. You may want to reduce your risk of cancers that may run in your family, and eliminating red meat from your diet is an important way to do this. You may also find that the way we mass-produce meat and poultry for consumption in this country is repugnant to you

If we really thought about the way meat and poultry is raised, we’d never eat the stuff again. We’re consuming flesh that’s been produced from enormous pain and suffering. Even the smallest life has value on this earth; mass producing these animals to slaughter and eat them degrades their lives and degrades our own in the process of eating them.

It might feel like it’s carrying things to far to eliminate something as elemental as a shrimp or a scallop. But think about what we dump into the ocean where this food comes from. All our waste and trash gets hauled into the ocean, if it doesn’t go into a landfill. Think of the millions of gallons of oil that have been dumped from oil tanker accidents. Think of the impact that the erosion of the ozone layer in the atmosphere has had on every living thing on the planet. There are toxic levels of mercury in fish and seafood, so much so that if you’re a woman contemplating getting pregnant, you most definitely shouldn’t eat fish. Your risk of producing a baby with birth defects is extremely high if you do.

It can be hard to let go of fish and seafood, because this has a similar texture to red meat and poultry. It’s flesh after all, even though it’s marine flesh. It might take longer to eliminate fish and seafood from your diet, but keep at the effort. If you’ve been realizing the benefits of eating more vegetarian, then it’s really a small step to take to eliminate this last piece of animal flesh from your diet. Imagine how good you’ll feel about yourself and what you’re doing for the planet when make that last step and eliminate all meat and animal products from your diet.

Healthy Diet Essentials

2009-02-13T06:32:00.000-08:00

According to the United States Department of Agriculture, a healthy diet as one that Emphasizes fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and fat-free or low-fat milk and milk products; includes lean meats, poultry, fish, beans, eggs, and nuts; and is low in saturated fats, trans fats, cholesterol, salt (sodium), and added sugars. But just what minerals and nutrients are vital to our health and well-being? Consider these nutrient-dense foods when you’re looking to improve your vitamin and mineral intake.

Vitamin A is needed for good eyesight and optimal functioning of the immune system. Cod liver oil, dairy products, sweet potatoes and dark green leafy vegetables are all great natural food sources of vitamin A.

Vitamin B1, also known as thiamin, is imperative to the body’s ability to process carbohydrates. Whole grain breads, cereals and pastas have high amounts of thiamin.

Riboflavin, or B2, can be found in fortified cereals, almonds, asparagus, eggs, and meat. It’s used in many body processes, including converting food into energy and the production of red blood cells.

Niacin, also known as B3, can be found in lean chicken, tuna, salmon, turkey, enriched flour, peanuts, and fortified cereals. It aids in digestion and also plays a key role in converting food into energy.

Vitamin B6 can be found in fortified cereals, fortified soy-based meat substitutes, baked potatoes with skin, bananas, light-meat chicken and turkey, eggs, and spinach. It’s vital for a healthy nervous system, and helps break down proteins and stored sugars.

Vitamin B12 is needed for creating red blood cells, and can be found in beef, clams, mussels, crabs, salmon, poultry, and soybeans.

Citrus fruits, red berries, tomatoes, potatoes, broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, red and green bell peppers, cabbage, and spinach are all loaded with vitamin C, which is vital to promoting a healthy immune system, and making chemical messengers in the brain.

Vitamin D can be found in fortified milk, cheese, and cereals; egg yolks; salmon; but can also be made by the body from sunlight exposure. It’s needed to process calcium and maintain the health of bones and teeth.

Vitamin E functions as an antioxidant and is essential to your skin’s good health. Eat plenty of leafy green vegetables, almonds, hazelnuts, and vegetable oils like sunflower, canola, and soybean to get this vital nutrient.

Folic acid can be found in fortified cereals and grain products; lima, lentil, and garbanzo beans; and dark leafy vegetables. It’s vital for cell development, prevents birth defects, promotes heart health, and helps red blood cells form. Pregnant women need to take

Eating For A Healthy Heart

2009-02-13T06:30:00.000-08:00

Bad cholesterol or a bad diet is something we all
experience at some point in time. It's impossible
to eat healthy our whole lives, even though we may
try hard to do it. Eating healthy for your heart
is something everyone should try to do, especially
when it comes to restoring health and reducing
heart attacks.

Your heart and food
We know these things for sure - a diet high in
saturated fats will help raise your cholesterol,
which is a risk factor for heart disease. People
that are obese are more prone to heart disease. A
diet high in sodium may elevate your blood pressure,
leading to inflammation and even heart disease.

To help prevent heart disease and improve your health,
put the tips below to good use.

Eat plenty of fish
Herring, sardines, and salmon are all excellent sources
of Omega 3 essential fatty acids. Other fish are great
to, although Omega 3 may help to get your cholesterol
down to a healthier level.

Choosing healthy fats and oils
Saturated fat will increase the risk of heart disease.
It's found in meat, butter, and even coconut oil. You
should avoid them until your cholesterol levels are
down and you are at a healthy weight. Even those
that love red meats can enjoy seafood and nuts for
their main sources of protein.

Monounsaturated fats such as olive oils will help
you to protect your heart. Olive oil is an ideal
choice for cooking, dressing, or even as a dipping
sauce.

Plenty of fiber
Fiber can help you control your cholesterol. You
can find fiber in whole grain products to help
control sugar absorption as well, which will help
you keep your digestive system healthy.

Choosing carbohydrates
Eating for your heart involves staying away from
sugary foods such as candy, cookies, cakes, and
pastries. Eating a lot of sugar isn't good for
your heart disease at all. Healthy carbohydrates
involve whole grain breads, whole grain pasta, brown
rice, and a lot of vegetables. You should make
fruits and vegetables the main aspect of your diet.

Healthy cooking methods
Stir frying and sauteing with olive oil or canola
oil are both great methods, as you shouldn't dip
your food in batter and fry it anymore. If you
cook chicken, remove the skin and bake it in the
oven in foil.

Instead of frying your fish you should always bake
it. Steaming your vegetables can help maintain the
most nutrients. You should use cream sauces or lots
of butter anymore either. When you eat vegetables,
try squeezing lemon juice on them or using your
favorite seasonings.

As you make the proper changes to your diet, keep in
mind that it takes time for them to become habits.
Eating healthy is always great for your body and your
lifestyle, especially when it comes to your heart and
the prevention of heart disease.

Healthy Diet - A Guide to Weight Loss

2009-02-13T06:29:00.000-08:00

Here are some weight loss diet tips that can be followed anywhere, everyday:

1. Make a delicious low fat mayonnaise by combining one teaspoon of Dijon mustard or satay sauce with a low fat yogurt.
2. Do not skip meals. Skipping meals slicks the body into slowing down the metabolism, attempting to conserve calories during a period where limited fats and fuel are available. Remember that eating increases the metabolism.

3. Stuff vegetables like capsicum and zucchini with flavored fillings or minced chicken, white meat or fish. These are healthy and contain low fat.
4. Take pita bread roll ups or wraps with salad fillings.
5. Eight hours after waking up, our metabolism slows down that is why 30 minutes of exercise before dinner will increase the metabolism for about two to three hours. This produces an increase in burned fat even hours after the work out is over.
6. Add alfalfa or mung beans to salad to get extra iron.
7. Good cooking and healthy eating begins with learning about nutrition and how to prepare healthy recipes.
8. Learn how to make the family favorite recipes and make sure that fats, salt, and sugar are cut out. Substitute non-fat yogurt for cream, stir-fry without oil and use herbs and spices instead of salt to taste.
9. Consult the doctor before beginning an exercise or weight loss program.
10. Slowly eat and chew each bite during meals as this would decrease one's appetite.
11. Complete three small meals and two snacks everyday instead of one or two huge meals.
12. Use chicken stock when stir-frying. This will cut down on hidden fat.
13. Buy non-toasted muesli instead of the toasted ones. A plate of toasted muesli contains more fat than a plate of bacon and eggs.
14. As much as possible do not remove the skins of fruits and vegetables since most of the nutrients are concentrated under the skin.
15. Warm water with just a squeeze of lemon juice before breakfast get the metabolism going for the day, this also help preventing constipation and is excellent for the skin.
16. One of the best sources of vegetable protein is from soya beans or tofu. All legumes provide some protein, so include lentils, lima beans etc into casseroles and soups.
17. Look for a weight loss "buddy," club, or support mates. This will motivate you to stay and enjoy your weight loss program.
18. Though it's hard at first, try not eating 3 hours or more before bedtime.
19. Make pasta a fast food choice - preparing a pasta meal or salad will only take 10-12 minutes.
20. Chilli helps to speed up metabolism - even the milder varieties.
21. Try making omelettes without adding the yolks! A dramatic decrease in fat.
22. Substitute baking soda, baking powder, MSG and soya sauce in cooking.
23. Remove fat by dropping ice cubes into the baking tray. Fat will stick to the ice cubes.
24. Drinking hot water instead of cold water in the morning can increase the speed of your metabolism and burn more calories.
25. Eat before you go food shopping and always prepare a shopping list. Only buy food which relates to your weekly menu plan and don't be tempted to buy goodies.

Make sure that the right discipline is still practiced to promote consistency on the diet plan. This will lead eventually to a healthy life-style and a more fruitful living without the extra fat and extra pounds on the side.

Vitamins And Your Health

2009-02-13T06:28:00.000-08:00

These days, we all know that taking vitamins is an easy way to start pursuing a healthy and disease free way of life. In the past, vitamins were used with diets, although they weren’t near as sophisticated as they are today. The vitamins of today are far more sophisticated and geared towards certain aspects of your body and your health.

Even though some people may not realize it, food doesn’t give you all of the vitamins and nutrients your body needs. Although you may be following a healthy diet, you won’t receive everything your body needs to carry out daily functions. You can buy high quality food if you wish, although it isn’t the preferred way to fix this type of situation. No matter what you choose to eat, you still won’t get the vitamins and nutrients you need.

If you have any type of restrictions with your diet, it can be even more difficult to get the vitamins and nutrients you need. Those who suffer from food allergies especially, find it even harder to get the right amount of vitamins. Even if you have a small appetite, you can be at a major disadvantage to getting everything your body needs. Smaller appetites get full a lot quicker, making it harder to eat the foods you need on a daily basis.

No matter how you look at it, you won’t get everything your body needs from food. To get the vitamins, minerals, and nutrients you need, you’ll need to use supplements and vitamins. Vitamin supplements are the easiest way to give your body what it needs. You can use vitamins and supplements in your normal diet, although you’ll need to choose them accordingly with what you need and what your diet consists of.

Even though there are many vitamins that you can benefit from, one of the most important is B12, which can raise your energy levels and help with your immune system. Some other vitamins you’ll need to include in your normal diet are vitamin A, C, D, and E. These vitamins are very important to your body, as they help with many different functions. Vitamins C and E are among the most important, as they help with your skin, hair growth, and the way your body functions.

To ensure that your body remains at it’s best, you should make sure that you get the right amount of vitamins with your diet. You can find vitamin supplements locally or on the Internet, with hundreds to choose from. You should also include selenium and colostrum in your daily diet as well, as these two vitamins will help you with your health. If you take the right vitamins with your diet - you’ll find that your health and energy will always will remain at their top levels of performance.

ALCOHOL HAS NO FOOD VALUE

2009-02-13T06:27:00.000-08:00

Alcohol has no food value and is exceedingly limited in its action as a remedial agent. Dr. Henry Monroe says, "every kind of substance employed by man as food consists of sugar, starch, oil and glutinous matter mingled together in various proportions. These are designed for the support of the animal frame. The glutinous principles of food fibrine, albumen and casein are employed to build up the structure while the oil, starch and sugar are chiefly used to generate heat in the body".

Now it is clear that if alcohol is a food, it will be found to contain one or more of these substances. There must be in it either the nitrogenous elements found chiefly in meats, eggs, milk, vegetables and seeds, out of which animal tissue is built and waste repaired or the carbonaceous elements found in fat, starch and sugar, in the consumption of which heat and force are evolved.

"The distinctness of these groups of foods," says Dr. Hunt, "and their relations to the tissue-producing and heat-evolving capacities of man, are so definite and so confirmed by experiments on animals and by manifold tests of scientific, physiological and clinical experience, that no attempt to discard the classification has prevailed. To draw so straight a line of demarcation as to limit the one entirely to tissue or cell production and the other to heat and force production through ordinary combustion and to deny any power of interchangeability under special demands or amid defective supply of one variety is, indeed, untenable. This does not in the least invalidate the fact that we are able to use these as ascertained landmarks".

How these substances when taken into the body, are assimilated and how they generate force, are well known to the chemist and physiologist, who is able, in the light of well-ascertained laws, to determine whether alcohol does or does not possess a food value. For years, the ablest men in the medical profession have given this subject the most careful study, and have subjected alcohol to every known test and experiment, and the result is that it has been, by common consent, excluded from the class of tissue-building foods. "We have never," says Dr. Hunt, "seen but a single suggestion that it could so act, and this a promiscuous guess. One writer (Hammond) thinks it possible that it may 'somehow' enter into combination with the products of decay in tissues, and 'under certain circumstances might yield their nitrogen to the construction of new tissues.' No parallel in organic chemistry, nor any evidence in animal chemistry, can be found to surround this guess with the areola of a possible hypothesis".

Dr. Richardson says: "Alcohol contains no nitrogen; it has none of the qualities of structure-building foods; it is incapable of being transformed into any of them; it is, therefore, not a food in any sense of its being a constructive agent in building up the body." Dr. W.B. Carpenter says: "Alcohol cannot supply anything which is essential to the true nutrition of the tissues." Dr. Liebig says: "Beer, wine, spirits, etc., furnish no element capable of entering into the composition of the blood, muscular fibre, or any part which is the seat of the principle of life." Dr. Hammond, in his Tribune Lectures, in which he advocates the use of alcohol in certain cases, says: "It is not demonstrable that alcohol undergoes conversion into tissue." Cameron, in his Manuel of Hygiene, says: "There is nothing in alcohol with which any part of the body can be nourished." Dr. E. Smith, F.R.S., says: "Alcohol is not a true food. It interferes with alimentation." Dr. T.K. Chambers says: "It is clear that we must cease to regard alcohol, as in any sense, a food".

"Not detecting in this substance," says Dr. Hunt, "any tissue-making ingredients, nor in its breaking up any combinations, such as we are able to trace in the cell foods, nor any evidence either in the experience of physiologists or the trials of alimentarians, it is not wonderful that in it we should find neither the expectancy nor the realization of constructive power."

Not finding in alcohol anything out of which the body can be built up or its waste supplied, it is next to be examined as to its heat-producing quality.

Production of heat.
------------------

"The first usual test for a force-producing food," says Dr. Hunt, "and that to which other foods of that class respond, is the production of heat in the combination of oxygen therewith. This heat means vital force, and is, in no small degree, a measure of the comparative value of the so-called respiratory foods. If we examine the fats, the starches and the sugars, we can trace and estimate the processes by which they evolve heat and are changed into vital force, and can weigh the capacities of different foods. We find that the consumption of carbon by union with oxygen is the law, that heat is the product, and that the legitimate result is force, while the result of the union of the hydrogen of the foods with oxygen is water. If alcohol comes at all under this class of foods, we rightly expect to find some of the evidences which attach to the hydrocarbons."

What, then, is the result of experiments in this direction? They have been conducted through long periods and with the greatest care, by men of the highest attainments in chemistry and physiology, and the result is given in these few words, by Dr. H.R. Wood, Jr., in his Materia Medica. "No one has been able to detect in the blood any of the ordinary results of its oxidation." That is, no one has been able to find that alcohol has undergone combustion, like fat, or starch, or sugar, and so given heat to the body.

Alcohol and reduction of temperature.
------------------------------------

instead of increasing it; and it has even been used in fevers as an anti-pyretic. So uniform has been the testimony of physicians in Europe and America as to the cooling effects of alcohol, that Dr. Wood says, in his Materia Medica, "that it does not seem worth while to occupy space with a discussion of the subject." Liebermeister, one of the most learned contributors to Zeimssen's Cyclopaedia of the Practice of Medicine, 1875, says: "I long since convinced myself, by direct experiments, that alcohol, even in comparatively large doses, does not elevate the temperature of the body in either well or sick people." So well had this become known to Arctic voyagers, that, even before physiologists had demonstrated the fact that alcohol reduced, instead of increasing, the temperature of the body, they had learned that spirits lessened their power to withstand extreme cold. "In the Northern regions," says Edward Smith, "it was proved that the entire exclusion of spirits was necessary, in order to retain heat under these unfavorable conditions."

Alcohol does not make you strong.
--------------------------------

If alcohol does not contain tissue-building material, nor give heat to the body, it cannot possibly add to its strength. "Every kind of power an animal can generate," says Dr. G. Budd, F.R.S., "the mechanical power of the muscles, the chemical (or digestive) power of the stomach, the intellectual power of the brain accumulates through the nutrition of the organ on which it depends." Dr. F.R. Lees, of Edinburgh, after discussing the question, and educing evidence, remarks: "From the very nature of things, it will now be seen how impossible it is that alcohol can be strengthening food of either kind. Since it cannot become a part of the body, it cannot consequently contribute to its cohesive, organic strength, or fixed power; and, since it comes out of the body just as it went in, it cannot, by its decomposition, generate heat force."

Sir Benjamin Brodie says: "Stimulants do not create nervous power; they merely enable you, as it were, to use up that which is left, and then they leave you more in need of rest than before."

Baron Liebig, so far back as 1843, in his "Animal Chemistry," pointed out the fallacy of alcohol generating power. He says: "The circulation will appear accelerated at the expense of the force available for voluntary motion, but without the production of a greater amount of mechanical force." In his later "Letters," he again says: "Wine is quite superfluous to man, it is constantly followed by the expenditure of power" whereas, the real function of food is to give power. He adds: "These drinks promote the change of matter in the body, and are, consequently, attended by an inward loss of power, which ceases to be productive, because it is not employed in overcoming outward difficulties i.e., in working." In other words, this great chemist asserts that alcohol abstracts the power of the system from doing useful work in the field or workshop, in order to cleanse the house from the defilement of alcohol itself.

The late Dr. W. Brinton, Physician to St. Thomas', in his great work on Dietetics, says: "Careful observation leaves little doubt that a moderate dose of beer or wine would, in most cases, at once diminish the maximum weight which a healthy person could lift. Mental acuteness, accuracy of perception and delicacy of the senses are all so far opposed by alcohol, as that the maximum efforts of each are incompatible with the ingestion of any moderate quantity of fermented liquid. A single glass will often suffice to take the edge off both mind and body, and to reduce their capacity to something below their perfection of work."

Dr. F.R. Lees, F.S.A., writing on the subject of alcohol as a food, makes the following quotation from an essay on "Stimulating Drinks," published by Dr. H.R. Madden, as long ago as 1847: "Alcohol is not the natural stimulus to any of our organs, and hence, functions performed in consequence of its application, tend to debilitate the organ acted upon.

Alcohol is incapable of being assimilated or converted into any organic proximate principle, and hence, cannot be considered nutritious.

The strength experienced after the use of alcohol is not new strength added to the system, but is manifested by calling into exercise the nervous energy pre-existing.

The ultimate exhausting effects of alcohol, owing to its stimulant properties, produce an unnatural susceptibility to morbid action in all the organs, and this, with the plethora superinduced, becomes a fertile source of disease.

A person who habitually exerts himself to such an extent as to require the daily use of stimulants to ward off exhaustion, may be compared to a machine working under high pressure. He will become much more obnoxious to the causes of disease, and will certainly break down sooner than he would have done under more favorable circumstances.

The more frequently alcohol is had recourse to for the purpose of overcoming feelings of debility, the more it will be required, and by constant repetition a period is at length reached when it cannot be foregone, unless reaction is simultaneously brought about by a temporary total change of the habits of life.

Driven to the wall.
------------------

Not finding that alcohol possesses any direct alimentary value, the medical advocates of its use have been driven to the assumption that it is a kind of secondary food, in that it has the power to delay the metamorphosis of tissue. "By the metamorphosis of tissue is meant," says Dr. Hunt, "that change which is constantly going on in the system which involves a constant disintegration of material; a breaking up and avoiding of that which is no longer aliment, making room for that new supply which is to sustain life." Another medical writer, in referring to this metamorphosis, says: "The importance of this process to the maintenance of life is readily shown by the injurious effects which follow upon its disturbance. If the discharge of the excrementitious substances be in any way impeded or suspended, these substances accumulate either in the blood or tissues, or both. In consequence of this retention and accumulation they become poisonous, and rapidly produce a derangement of the vital functions. Their influence is principally exerted upon the nervous system, through which they produce most frequent irritability, disturbance of the special senses, delirium, insensibility, coma, and finally, death."

"This description," remarks Dr. Hunt, "seems almost intended for alcohol." He then says: "To claim alcohol as a food because it delays the metamorphosis of tissue, is to claim that it in some way suspends the normal conduct of the laws of assimilation and nutrition, of waste and repair. A leading advocate of alcohol (Hammond) thus illustrates it: 'Alcohol retards the destruction of the tissues. By this destruction, force is generated, muscles contract, thoughts are developed, organs secrete and excrete.' In other words, alcohol interferes with all these. No wonder the author 'is not clear' how it does this, and we are not clear how such delayed metamorphosis recuperates.

Not an originator of vital force.
--------------------------------

which is not known to have any of the usual power of foods, and use it on the double assumption that it delays metamorphosis of tissue, and that such delay is conservative of health, is to pass outside of the bounds of science into the land of remote possibilities, and confer the title of adjuster upon an agent whose agency is itself doubtful.

Having failed to identify alcohol as a nitrogenous or non-nitrogenous food, not having found it amenable to any of the evidences by which the food-force of aliments is generally measured, it will not do for us to talk of benefit by delay of regressive metamorphosis unless such process is accompanied with something evidential of the fact something scientifically descriptive of its mode of accomplishment in the case at hand, and unless it is shown to be practically desirable for alimentation.

There can be no doubt that alcohol does cause defects in the processes of elimination which are natural to the healthy body and which even in disease are often conservative of health.

PROSTATE CANCER

2009-02-13T06:24:00.000-08:00

Prostate is a glandular organ present only in males. It surrounds the neck of bladder & the first part of urethra and condributes a secretion to the semen. The gland is conical in shape and measures 3 cm in vertical diameter and 4 cm in transverse diameter.It has got five lobes anterior,posterior,two lateral and a median lobe.Since the first part of the urethra pass through it any lesion in the prostate will produce difficulty in passing urine.

Diseases of the prostate gland:-

1) Prostatitis:-

This is the inflamation of the prostate gland due to bacterial infection.

2) Benign enlargement of the prostate:-

This is a non cancerous tumour of the prostate seen after the age of 50. 3,Cancer of the prostate:-This is the 4th most common cause of death from malignant diseases in males.

Cancer of the prostate.

Cancer of the prostate is directly linked with the male sex hormones(androgens).If the levels of sex hormone increases the growth rate of cancer also increases.It is found that after the removel of testes there is marked reduction in the size of tumour.

Site of tumour:-

Prostate cancer is seen mainly in the posterior lobe.Non cancerous enlargement is seen in other lobes.

Changes in the gland in cancer:-

The gland becomes hard with irregular surface with loss of normal lobulation .Histologically prostate cancer is an adeno carcinoma(cancer of the epithelial cells in the gland)

Growth :-

Growth rate is very fast in prostate cancer .The tumour compresses the urethra and produce difficulty in urination.

Spread of tumour:-

Metastasis in cancer of prostate is very early.

1) Local spread:-

From the posterior lobe the cancer cells go to the lateral lobes and seminal vesicles.Tumour cells also move to the neck and base of the urinary bladder.

2) Lymphatic spread:-

Through the lymph vessels cancer cells reach the internal and external illiac group of lymph nodes.From there cells move to retroperitonial(Behind the peritonium) and mediastinal lymph nodes(in the chest)

3) Spread through the blood:-

Spread of cancer cells takeplace through the periprostatic venous plexus and reaches the vertebral veins while coughing and sneezing and finally enders the vertebral bodies of the lumbar vertebrae.

Signs and symptoms of prostate cancer:--

Signs and symptoms depend upon the stage of the cancer. The following symptoms may be seen.

1) No symptoms:-

Tumour is small and only in the posterior lobe. This is diagnosed accidentely.

2) Slight difficulty in urination:-

Here the tumour is enlarged and urethra is slightly compressed.Shortly there will be frequent urge for urination with difficult urination.

3) When the tumour spread to all nearby areas including neck of bladder and urethra there will be painful urination with bleeding.Urine comes drop by drop.

4) Retention of urine:-

When the urethra is completely compressed there will be retention of urine.This can lead to hydronephrosis, renal failure ect.In this condition patient may get convulsions due to renal failure and finally coma.

5) Signs of metastasis:-

Some patients come with the signs and symptoms of metastasis.

a) Lumbo sacral pain due to spread of cancer cells to lumbar and sacral vertebrae.

b) Fracture of spine due to cancerous growth in the spine.

c) Swelling, pain and fluid collection in the abdomen due to lesion in the abdomen.

d) Respiratory complaints due to cancer of mediastinal lymphnodes and lungs.

e) General weakness due to spread of cancer to different parts of the body.

f) Anaemia due to involment of bone marrow and increased destruction of RBCs.

Clinical examination :-

Includes per rectal examination to feel the prostate gland,palpation of abdomen to feel the swelling in kidneys and any tumours.Patient is examined from head to foot to find out any lesions.

Investigations:-

1) Complete blood investigations;-

RBC,WBC,Platlets,ESR,bleeding time ,clotting time ect.

2) Urine analysis:-

Microscopic examination to detect pus cells,occult blood,casts,Crystals ect.

3) Renal function tests:-

Blood urea level,serum creatinine level,electrolyte level ect.

4) Serum acid phosphatase:-

Increased in cancer of prostate.

5) x-ray of the spine:-

To detect any tumour or fracture.

6) Ultra sonography;-

Gives idea about prostate,bladder,kidney ect.

7) C T scan:-

More detailed information about organs and tumour.

8) MRI of the spine:-

Gives detailed information about spine ,disc and nearby soft tissues.

9) Lymphangiography:-

Gives idea about lymphatic spread of cancer.

10) Biopsy to confirm cancer:-

Biopsy is taken from the tumour and is send for histopathological examination under the microscope.This will detect the presence of cancer cells.

Treatment:-

1) If there is retention of urine catheterisation is needed.
2) Dialysis if kidney failure.
3) If there is coma monitoring of all vital functions along with parentral nutrition and electolyte supply.
4) Specific treatment is prostatectomy(removal of prostate)

Partial prostatectomy :-

Here only the affected lobe is removed.

Radical prostatectomy :-

Total removal of prostate along with nearby lymphnodes.

5, Hormone therapy :-

Stilbestrol is given to reduce tumour growth.Since this treatement increases the chance for cardiovascular disease phosphorylated diethyle stilbesterol is used nowadays.

6) Chemotherapy:-Drugs like cyclophosphamide, cisoplatim ect are given.

7) Radiotherapy is also done for some cases.

8) Homoeopathy:-

Homoeopathic drugs like carcinocin, conium, sabal, crotalus, thuja, iodum, selinium, staphysagria, sulphur ect can be given according to symptoms.Constitutional homoeopathic medicine will give great relief and can increase the life span.

9) Yoga and meditation is also healpful.

Eating Healthy During Pregnancy

2009-02-11T05:32:00.000-08:00

Starting off your with a healthy well
balanced diet is the best thing you do for yourself
and your baby. This way, you'll only need to make
a few adjustments during your pregnancy.

Your first trimester
If you find it tough to maintain a balanced diet
during your first trimester, you can rest assured
that your not alone. Due to queasiness, some
women will eat all of the time and gain a lot of
weight in the process. Other women have trouble
getting food down and subsequently lose weight.

Preventing malnutrition and dehydration are your
most important factors during first trimester.

Calories
When you are pregnant, you need to consume around
300 calories more than usual every day. The best
way to go about doing this is listening to your
body when you are hungry. You should try to eat
as many foods as possible from the bottom of the
food pyramid.

If you gain weight too slow, try eating small
meals and slightly increase the fat in your diet.
You should always eat when you are hungry, as you
are now eating for 2 instead of one.

Calcium
By the second trimester, you'll need around 1,500
milligrams of calcium each day for your bones and
your baby', which is more than a quart of milk.
Calcium is something that's missing from many
diets. Along with milk, other great sources for
calcium include dairy products, calcium fortified
juices, and even calcium tablets.

Fiber
Fiber can help to prevent constipation, which is
a common pregnancy problem. You can find fiber in
whole grains, fruits, and even vegetables. Fiber
supplements such as Metamucil and Citrucel are
safe to take during pregnancy.

Protein
Unless you happen to be a strict vegetarian, your
protein intake is not normally a problem for women
who eat a healthy diet.

Iron
A lot of women will start their pregnancy off with
a bit of iron deficiency. Good sources of iron
include dark leafy green vegetables and meats. Iron
supplements should be avoided, as they can cause
internal symptoms such as cramping, constipation,
or diarrhea.

Vitamins
Seeing as how you get a majority of the vitamins you
need in your diet, you may want to discuss prenatal
vitamins with your doctor. Folate is one of the most
important, and if you are getting enough of it, you
may be able to avoid vitamins all together - just ask
your doctor to make sure.

The K Vitamin

2009-02-11T05:30:00.000-08:00

The K vitamin is essential for the blood to clot to repair injuries. Whenever a person has a bleeding wound, it is the K vitamin that is present in the blood that stops the bleeding and enables most minor cuts to heal quickly.

There are three different forms of the K vitamin. The first variant of the K vitamin is vitamin K1, also known as phylloquinone. This is the form of the K vitamin that is found in types of plant foods. Vitamin K found in plant foods. The second form of the K vitamin is the vitamin K2, or menaquinone. This type of the K vitamin is formed by friendly bacteria in the intestines. Thirdly, there is vitamin K3 which is also known as menadione and is actually an artificial form of the K vitamin. All three of these types of K vitamin end up in the liver where it is used to create the blood clotting substances.

The best natural sources of the K vitamin are green leafy vegetables, such as spinach. However, because the friendly bacteria in the intestine makes one of the forms of the K vitamin it is extremely rare for a person to have a deficiency of the K vitamin and so K vitamin supplements are not needed by the majority of people.

Apart from the main function of helping blood to clot, the K vitamin, specifically the Vitamin K1, has an important part to play in the bone building process. This K vitamin is required to retain the calcium in the bones and redistribute it to where it is needed.

Although a K vitamin deficiency is relatively rare there are certain groups of people who may suffer from it. Newborn babies may not have enough of the K vitamin as they have insufficient bacteria in their intestines to produce it. The majority of newborn babies in developed countries are therefore given a K vitamin injection to tide them over until the natural process takes over. That is the only time that a K vitamin supplement will be taken by most people throughout their lives. However, an extended course of antibiotics may lead to a K vitamin deficiency due to the fact that the antibiotics kill the intestinal bacteria as well as the ones that they are being taken to cure. Again, a K vitamin supplement may be given if the course of antibiotics has to continue for a long period of time.

A Guide to the D Vitamin

2009-02-11T05:29:00.001-08:00

The D vitamin is the only vitamin that is not obtained from foods that are consumed. Instead, the D vitamin is actually obtained by sunlight on the skin. There has been a lot of media coverage about the dangers of getting too much sun but it is essential that the skin is exposed to sunlight to obtain the recommended daily allowance of the D vitamin. In reality, the amount of time that a person has to spend in the sun to receive a sufficient dose of the D vitamin is extremely small and just a few minutes a day will be sufficient and not have any adverse effects from the amount of ultra-violet light received.

The most important function of the D vitamin is to help control how much calcium is absorbed from food. The majority of the calcium is used to build strong teeth and bones but it is also needed to send messages along the nerves and to help muscles, such as the heart muscles, to contract. It is the D vitamin that ensures that there is always sufficient calcium in the blood to perform these tasks. Other functions that require the D vitamin relate to the immune system and it is believed that it is also a contributing factor in reducing the risk of contracting cancer and, in particular, colon cancer.

The variant of the D vitamin that is formed under the skin is known as vitamin D3, or cholecalciferol. This D vitamin is created when the ultraviolet in the sunlight reacts with a type of cholesterol that is found under the skin naturally. The D3 is converted into a more active form of the d vitamin in the liver and is then diverted to where it is needed the most. Some of the D vitamin remains in the liver and kidneys to help reabsorb the calcium from the blood. The rest of the D vitamin is dispersed to the bones to help them retain their calcium and the intestines to aid absorption of calcium from food.

Even though the majority of the D vitamin is formed through the exposure of the skin to sunlight there are some foods that do contain some of the vitamin naturally. This form of the D vitamin is known as vitamin D2, or ergocalciferol. This is used in the same way as the other D vitamins and is the type used to create the majority of D vitamin supplements.

The Foods to Avoid that Causes Acid Reflux

2009-02-09T05:44:00.000-08:00

Problems in the digestive system should not be neglected. There are different possible digestive system disorders or diseases that are most often neglected by many people. The most common digestive problem is the acid reflux or gastro-esophageal reflux disease, mostly known as heartburn. Acid reflux affects different ages from infants to young children and adults as well. This disorder should be given special attention because it can lead to a more serious problem that could affect the respiratory system.

Acid reflux is determined through the symptoms associated with it. Symptoms such as a burning sensation in the chest or throat, wheezing, hoarseness or other symptoms associated to it should never be neglected because these symptoms of acid reflux also are similar to heart attack.

An individual with these symptoms should immediately consult a doctor to determine if they have acid reflux disease or symptoms of a heart attack. Once the doctor has diagnosed the individual with acid reflux, they should take proper medications to aid in this condition to prevent further problems.

Fortunately, advancements in medical treatment have been introduced lately, making it possible for individuals with acid reflux to undergo medical surgery, as such, providing a permanent remedy for acid reflux in a fast surgical procedure. On the other hand, acid reflux surgery can be quite expensive; therefore, natural remedies to rid of the problem are an option for those individuals unable to have surgery.

As most people know, acid reflux or heartburn can occur at anytime but are likely to occur after having a heavy meal with high acidic foods. As such, individuals should avoid foods that are highly acidic to prevent this condition to occur. Even fried and fatty foods should be avoided. These sorts of foods can lead to more severe symptoms that could affect the respiratory system. Even chocolates are considered a no-no for individuals with acid reflux because chocolates are highly acidic too.

If you have been diagnosed with acid reflux, try changing your diet by choosing the right foods and eating healthy. Exclude foods with tomatoes and citrus fruits because tomatoes and citrus fruits are very acidic as well. Also, food with spices such as garlic, onions, red or black pepper and chili powder can cause the condition to flare. Ginger, however, is a natural remedy used to relieve heartburn.

Here are some foods that should be avoided by individuals with acid reflux. Fatty foods like hamburgers and hotdogs is one of the risks in triggering this painful condition. Certain vegetables like cauliflower, Brussel sprouts, cabbage, and broccoli causes acid reflux also. Most of all, avoid caffeine found in teas, coffee and sodas. Caffeine causes acid gastric secretion that can lead to the problem.

There are other ways to aid the elimination of acid reflux that does not involve eating, this is done by limiting your food intake. Usually, heavy meals in one time can cause acid reflux than eating small portions of foods in every meal. Eating heavy meals can result in stomach problems due to foods unable to breakdown properly for stomach consumption, therefore causing acid reflux.

Acid reflux is a condition that needs attention. It can lead to worse conditions if unattended. Individuals should take preventive measures to avoid possible occurrences of acid reflux, whereas, avoiding also the foods that causes acid reflux in an individual to happen. Learn to diagnose the problem caused by acid reflux and take preventive measures in avoiding possible occurrences of this disorder by avoiding possible foods that can cause acid reflux.

Quick Tips to Boost Your Metabolism

2009-02-09T05:43:00.001-08:00

There are a lot of people who would give a lot to increase their metabolism. Having a high level of metabolism enables one to maintain burn fat and lose weight fast with the least amount of activity. Metabolism is the rate by which the body produces and consumes energy and calories to support life.

There are several factors that affect the metabolism of a person, such as the amount of muscle tissue, the frequency of the meals one consumes, genetics, stress levels, personal diet and activity levels. Metabolism slows done due to the following: loss of muscle because of not enough physical activity, the tendency of the body to cannibalize its own tissue because there is not enough food energy to sustain it, and the decrease of physical activity that comes naturally with old age.

Here are several ways to fire up one's metabolism:

1. Build up on lean, mean body mass. It is only natural that metabolism decreases along with age, but it is possible to counter the effects. The amount of muscle a person has is a very strong determinant in the ability to burn calories and shed fat. So it goes without saying that exercise is essential. Build strength and resistance by working out at least twice a week, preferably with weights. Do easy exercises in between workouts. Simple tasks such as walking the dog and using the stairs in place of the elevator can already take off calories. The key is to match the amount of eating to the amount of activity one has. Here are some guidelines in getting the right exercise:

For strength training

-Increase the amount of repetitions of a particular exercise.
-Add the level of resistance
-Utilize advance exercise techniques if possible

For cardiovascular training

-Insert intervals between exercises
-Perform cross-training and combine the exercises
-Add up on resistance and speed

2. Eat breakfast. A lot of people are ignoring the fact that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Surprisingly, the ones who eat breakfast are thinner than the ones who do not. Metabolism can slow down considerably if breakfast is taken during mid-morning or if one waits until the afternoon to eat.

3. Avoid sugar. Sugar enables the body to store fat. It is recommended that a person consumes food that helps sustain an even level of blood-sugar. Additionally, progressive execerise 2-3 times a week should be in order to stabilize blood sugar.

4. Eat spicy foods. Hot cuisine with peppers can increase metabolism.

5. Sleep more. According to research, it is riskier for people who do not get enough sleep to gain weight. Also, muscles are regenerated during the last couple of hours of slumber.

6. Increase water intake. Water flushes out toxins that are produced whenever the body burns fat. Majority of bodily functions involves water, and lack of water causes the body system's operations to decrease its speed, and produces unneeded stress as a result.

7. Eat smaller meals. It is advisable to consume 4 to 6 small meals that are timed 2 to 3 hours apart.

8. Never skip meals. People tend to skip meals in order to lose weight, which is a big mistake since it slows down metabolism.

9. Plan meals in detail. Always prepare the right amount of food to be consumed at the designated intervals. Do not commit the mistake of eating meals in sporadic patterns.

9. Ditch the stress! Stress, be it physical or emotional, triggers the release of a steroid called cortisol, which decreases metabolism. Also, people tend to eat excessively when stressed.

10. Guzzle up on green tea. It can be used as a substitute for coffee. Tea has the ability to stimulate metabolism, and unlike coffee, it has no undesirable side effects when too much is consumed.

11. Include more energy foods in the diet, such as fruits and vegetables, beans and whole grains.

Achieving the desired body weight is never impossible if one has the determination and patience needed to stabilize the metabolism level, which plays an important role in weight loss. A person needs to realize that eating right and working out is not just a passing fancy, but a way of life.

Body Detox Herbs Can Do Wonder in Your Lives

2009-02-09T05:42:00.001-08:00

It is a fact that some pesticides, chemicals, and certain fumes are present in the environment that is affecting your immune system and jeopardizing your health. Moreover, the foods that you eat can lead to a toxic atmosphere lowering your overall immunity. Toxic load is the condition of tissues and cells where internal terrain is developed after food consumption of highly processed foods. Your body needs to be cleansed from these unwanted toxins. The process is called detoxification.

Although you have the kidney and liver which are organs considered as natural detoxifiers filtering out the impurities of the bodies, you need to consider other ways to detoxify your body from toxins. Some of the methods can be extreme like long fasting from juice drinks or dialysis.

Take note, your immune system is the defense mechanism of your body. So, disease and infections should be prevented before it affects your whole body through toxin’s removal. As you could observe, the illness’ frequency of a person is dependent on the immune’s system strength which is composed of complex networks of nodes and lymph channels.

There are detox herbs that are beneficial in making your immune system strong. These herbs are the perfect and natural way of removing toxins from your immune systems to minimize acquired illnesses and to develop your general well-being.

Several herbs for detoxifying are much better for improving your immune systems than others. However, there are specific considerations for the detoxification program that you choose. But the following detox herbs can be used according to your needs.

- Psyllium seeds promote healthy bowel movement generally maintaining its good condition. It could be used in helping bowel related problems like diarrhea. This herb is good because it has an absorption property similar to a sponge where it helps in removing the toxins inside your body.

- Cascara Sagrada is generally a good natural laxative flushing the toxins out of your system. It also helps in strengthening your colon and other related muscles. This herb is used together with psyllium seeds.

- Milk thistle is also a very valuable substance used often to simulate the protein synthesis in the liver. It is used effectively in soaking different types of toxins found in drugs and alcohols that can damage your body.

- Nettles are used as a portion of the detox herb mixture in cleansing the urinary systems as well as any part of the body.

- Burdock roots are also perfect for stronger cleansing needs. It is helpful in reducing the heavy metals build-up within your body which causes immune system problems.

- Dandelion roots are detox herbs having strong cleansing properties appropriate for your liver. It is good for removing the gall bladder wastes and also works well for kidneys if used with other compatible detox herbs.

People would really need to detoxify themselves due to the presence of toxins in processed foods and in polluted air. Using herbs is not new in detoxification programs because its cleansing and healing properties have been known for so many years. Thus, it is now being accepted in the detoxification concept treating patients worldwide.

These herbs can effectively flush out unwanted toxins from your immune system allowing you to look and feel great. It can save you from acquiring severe illnesses. Brilliant detox herbs can really do wonders in a person's life.

Mineral Vitamin Supplements

2009-02-09T05:41:00.001-08:00

The majority of mineral vitamin supplements are made from chemicals rather than natural substances. However, there is a steady growth in the demand for natural mineral vitamin supplements. This is due to the amount of debate that there is as to whether chemical mineral vitamins can be more harmful than beneficial in the long term.

The fact is that chemical mineral vitamin supplements are not as easily absorbed as normal food particles are. The mineral vitamin industry is constantly striving to create products that are more easily processed by the body and therefore more beneficial.

Every now and then the industry comes up with a new 'more bio-available' form of a vitamin or mineral. To overcome this, a large number of mineral vitamins have been developed that combine other elements with the vitamins and minerals to enable them to be more easily absorbed by the body. Iron is commonly combined to form iron gluconate which enable the mineral vitamin supplement to be more absorbable.

The amount of a nutrient in a mineral vitamin supplement needs to be far greater than it would be in a more natural form for the body to be able to absorb the amount that is required. This can obviously lead to problem where a toxic level of the particular nutrient is being consumed by the large doses of the mineral vitamin supplement that are needed. It is therefore extremely important that a person does not simply take vast quantities of all of the mineral vitamin supplements that are advertised on television and should seek advice from a health professional. It is also worth being aware of the developments in the mineral vitamin supplement industry as there are constantly new and better combinations being developed.

One method that mineral vitamin manufacturers have developed to help aid absorption is through culturing the raw materials with yeast cells. This form of mineral vitamins are known as ‘food state’ and are up to four times easier for the body to absorb the required nutrients as the yeast is completely digested.

Of course, the need for mineral vitamin supplements depends on the diet that a person has. There is no doubt that it is far more preferable for a person to obtain the nutrients that they require from their food rather than by taking mineral vitamin supplements wherever possible. During certain periods it may be necessary for a person to take mineral vitamin supplements on a temporary basis but their long term use is not recommended for a number of the supplements that are available.

Supplements For Calcium

2009-02-09T05:39:00.000-08:00

Throughout your life, calcium will prove to be very important. With the most important times of your life, such as childhood, breast feeding, or pregnancy, getting the right amounts of calcium is very important. For children, calcium helps with the growth of teeth and bones, and it prevents blood clots. With adults, calcium helps to prevent osteoporosis.

If you are looking to take, or currently taking calcium supplements, you should take them either before or after your meal, with a large glass of liquid, preferably water. If you are using chewable calcium supplements, then you should make sure that you chew the pills thoroughly before you swallow. If you have trouble chewing them, you should always let them dissolve in a glass of water or juice then slowly drink once it is dissolved. Keep in mind, you shouldn’t take other medications immediately following calcium supplements, as they can easily interfere with other types of medications that you may be taking.

Although calcium supplements are ideal for promoting bone and teeth growth and health, you should always make sure that you can take them before you make the purchase. Those who suffer from lung disease, kidney stones, stomach problems, or diarrhea should always consult with a doctor first to make sure that calcium supplements won’t make things worse. If you happen to be pregnant, you should let your doctor know that you are interested in or taking calcium supplements, as that have been known to get into breast milk.

Normally, anyone can take calcium supplements, although using them in high doses may cause different and adverse reactions. If you take calcium supplements in large doses, you may experience constipation, vomiting, nausea, a loss of appetite, a dry mouth, and a loss of appetite. If you start to have any of the above problems, you should immediately contact your doctor.

When you contact your doctor, you should let him know if you are taking any other medications, and any histories of illness or diseases your family may have. Although anyone can take calcium supplements, there are rare cases in which they may cause you side effects. Side effects are very rare, although they happen and may prevent certain individuals from taking these supplements.

If you’ve been having problems with your bones or just looking to keep your bones healthy, calcium supplements are what you need. You can find them online, or through local nutrition stores such as GNC. They don’t cost a lot of money, yet they will give you the peace of mind in knowing that your bones will remain strong and healthy. You can include them in your daily diet as well - although you should check with your doctor first to make sure that they won’t cause you any problems.

Zinc Supplements For Your Body

2009-02-09T05:38:00.000-08:00

Zinc supplements provide a much needed mineral that is needed by each and every cell in your body. The body is unable to produce zinc on it’s own, which is why we need to makes sure we eat enough food that contains the mineral, drink enough water, or use the proper supplements that will give our cells the zinc they need.

Zinc is very important, as it plays a crucial role with hundreds of processes in the human body. The most prominent functions include support of the immune system, joints, tissues, along with aiding in cell growth. Zinc supplements have also been proven to eliminate sexual dysfunction, boost sexual function, aid in the health of the hair, and help with skin wound healing.

No matter how you look at it, zinc plays an important role in the function of most of our senses, which includes the ability to taste, smell, and also sight. Research has indicated that zinc can counter vision loss in the event of macular degeneration. A deficiency of zinc on the other hand can lead to dulling of the taste buds, along with the ability to detect scent.

Although zinc is an essential vitamin for our bodies, taking too much of it can be a bad thing. Research has proven that taking more than 100 mg daily for an extended period can cause damage in the immune system. Older folks on the other hand, can benefit from taking zinc if they have a deficiency. The supplement can actually help older people bring their intake back up to the levels they should be at.

When taking zinc supplements, you should always remember that zinc can indeed interfere with your absorption of copper. For this reason, a lot of experts recommend that they should be taken together. Anyone who takes a zinc supplement should take it as part of a well balanced diet, to ensure that other vitamins and minerals work together with the zinc.

With most dietary supplements in the U.S. being unregulated, you should always choose a manufacturer who is GMP compliant. Manufacturers that are GMP compliant will always follow the manufacturing standards of zinc, in order to minimize and quite possibly eliminate the risk of contaminants that you could be getting from the supplement.

If you choose your supplement wisely, you shouldn’t have to worry about any problems. You can buy zinc supplements at GNC, online, or other nutrition stores. It isn’t expensive either, which makes it a welcome edition to your diet. You should always consult with your doctor if you suspect that you have a zinc deficiency, so that he or she can tell you exactly how much zinc you need on a daily basis. This way, if you aren’t getting enough in your normal diet - you can get the supplements you need.

Dealing with Diabetes to Enjoy Healthy Aging

2009-02-06T08:12:00.000-08:00

Learning to deal with diabetes is never easy. It is bad enough we have to live in a greed-based world filled with confusion, violence, media junk, and so on. Still, those with diabetes can live healthy providing they adhere to diet, medications and exercise. Diabetes is a serious condition. The disease is the mother of all disease in the world and it is a killer.

What is diabetes?
Diabetes is a disease that you can get if you do not eat right or take care of your body. Genetics play a part in diabetes as well. In fact, hereditary is a hard cause of the problem. The disease can cause blindness. The disease can lead to amputation of legs, or feet. Diabetes is a disease that when your body does not produce enough insulin to break down sugar in the bloodstream. Diabetes includes two types, yet various levels are considered. Diabetes includes Diabetes Insipidus and Mellitus.

The first diabetes is where your body is incapable of producing enough insulin to do what its supposed to do. This type of diabetes is treatable. You will need medications, exercise and strict diet to maintain your health. Diabetes Mellitus has five types. Each type results from insulin interruptions whereas the system is disrupted. The disruption causes chaos within the body’s ability to function. The body cannot act naturally and it takes insulin shots to treat this condition depending on the type.

How would I know that I have this disease called diabetes?
If you go to your doctors on a regular basis, your doctor will monitor your health. If you have family history of diabetes, let your doctor know so he/she can conduct random testing. A glucose test is necessary to find diabetes. Blood lab tests are useful also to spot diabetes.

What you should watch for?
Drinking but not filling your thirst quench. If you feel fatigue often and don’t know, then you should be tested. Diabetes, depending on the type makes a person feels weak, endure pain, lose weight, gain weight, etc. The disease is so confusing to the bodily functions that it doesn’t know the direction to head.

What can I do to help me not to get this disease?
No one has control over disease but you. If you adhere to regular checkups, the doctor can spot the disease at an early stage, which the disease then can be managed. You need to eat right and do excises daily to help maintain your weight, since diabetes takes delight in feeding the disease to the point of death.

What happens to those with diabetes?
Unfortunately, the disease is not partial. The disease targets young and old alike. Once the disease develops it puts the person at risk of blindness.

Some people lose their legs or other limbs resulting from diabetes. Most people with diabetes are at risk of kidney failure. If you already have diabetes then listen to your doctor and follow all instructions. One of the top recommendations to diabetes patients is to consume much fluids. Your body is losing fluids as diabetes drains your bodily organs of its natural elements. You will also need to avoid saturated fat foods and basic sugars. In addition, your doctor will need to test you regularly to control your illness.

You want to take care when diabetes is present since it can lead to meningitis, headaches, tachycardia, dehydration, muscle weakness, pain, and so on. In addition, you may endure blurred vision, sexual dysfunctions, slow healing, and so on. Again, diabetes is a killer; so take care of your health.

Detox- Cleansing the Body Inside Out

2009-02-06T08:11:00.000-08:00

Detoxification has been a lengthy discussion ever since. Whether to detox or not, is up to you.

Even though you are 'healthy' this does not mean that you don't need to detox. Sure our body does this on a continual basis, our kidneys and livers are constantly working by cleaning out all the pollutants (smoke, caffeine, chemical-based products etc) in our body. Detox strengthen our organs back to optimal function.

Basically, this is done through fasting, therefore resting the organs and stimulating the liver by pushing away the toxins from the body. Nourishing the body with healthy nutrients is also done to maintain optimum health. It has been practiced for centuries around the world by different cultures.

Although a lot of people want whole body detoxification, some wants to have a detox on a particular organ only, such as the kidney, liver or colon. During kidney cleansing, herbal supplements and juices are used to dissolve and wash out kidney stones; particular foods are consumed in liver cleansing causing the gall bladder and liver to remove fatty deposits and toxins out of the body. Colon cleansing on the other hand, gently flushes the colon with water providing a pathway for the release of toxins.

There are also techniques used in whole body cleansing such as:

Fasting. Water or juice fasting is applied for a period of time to lessen toxic loads in the body causing the body to heal itself and nourish inside out.

Parasite cleaning. Right amount of pills or tinctures made out of bitter herbs are consumed to build an unreceptive environment for the parasites inside the body.

Contrast Shower. The contrast among hot and cold water enhances circulation, helps in detoxifying thus having a stronger immune system. This also helps by bringing oxygen, nutrients and immune cells towards damaged and stressed tissue and flushes metabolic waste and other toxins.

Sauna, yoga, exercise, raw food dieting and dry skin brushing also enhance the body's natural cleansing process.

Other Detoxifying aids

There are a number of safe products that helps in the cleansing process such as cleansing supplement packages (with easy-to-follow instructions), detox foot patches, commercially prepared detox teas, Epsom salts, high-class multivitamins for daily intake and antioxidants like Q10 and E that can be found at health food stores.

Before and after side effects:

As the procedures differ, so do the benefits.

During the detox, you'll most likely feel the side effects that take place during the first few days such as headaches, feeling weak, sore muscles, cranky moods and unable to sleep soundly.

There are also a number of positive side effects days after the cleansing process. You will feel energetic, mental clarity improved, skin is clearer, improved sleep, and have a positive attitude in life for a fresh start.

Detoxification is safe and beneficial for our health. It is suggested that each one should at least have a short detoxification program yearly. However, children, nursing mothers, and patients with cancer, chronic degenerative illness and tuberculosis should consult their physician first for approval and supervision or find someone who is familiar with detox.

If you decide to award your body with holiday, find a nutritional therapist who is familiar with detox.

Here's how:

You can call your friends who are into health foods and alternative medicines, ask them for a person who they can refer. Another way is to search in the yellow pages under nutrition or by looking for ads in health publication in your locality. Get the name of someone you found whose name appears in more than one place and check for his profile, like from which school he/she attended the training and if it's an accredited one. Also ask how long he's been in practice.

Free Weight Loss programs

2009-02-06T08:10:00.001-08:00

The race to fitness is on and a lot of people are getting into the band wagon. Some people do it to achieve a sexy body, some people just do it because they are embarrassed with the body they have now, while others do it simply to remain fit and heatlthy. As such, many fitness programs are out in the internet, in gyms, spas and fitness centers all over. Some are too expensive to afford that one may even lose weight just by trying to work out the money needed to pursue these fitness programs.

One may not have to go to the gym or the spa or any fitness center and spend much just to slim down to obtain that longed for sexy body. There are many books available in the bookstore which offer weight loss programs which are convenient and for free, of course the books are not though. These weight loss programs, or diet plans are gaining immense popularity with so much publicity, testimonials and reviews that one may be confused which exactly to follow. So before choosing which weight loss plan to follow, try reading these summaries about the most popular diet programs out today.

Atkins' New Diet Revolution by Dr. Atkins. This weight loss program encourages high protein diet and a trim down on the carbs. One can feast on vegetables and meat but should fast on bread and pasta. One is also not restricted against fat intake so it is okay to pour in the salad dressing and freely spread on the butter. However, after the diet, one may find himself lacking on fiber and calcium yet high in fat. Intake of grains and fruits are also limited.

Carbohydrate Addict's Diet by Drs. Heller. This diet plan advocates low carbohyrate eating. Approves on eating meats, vegetables and fruits, dairy and grain products. however, warns against taking in too much carb. "Reward" meal can be too high on fats and saturated fats.

Choose to Lose by Dr. Goor. Restrains fat intake. One is given a "fat" budget and he is given the liberty on how to spend it. It does not pressure the individual to watch his carbohydrate intake. Eating meat and poultry as well as low-fat dairy and seafoods is okay. A go signal is also given on eating vegetables, fruits, cereals, bread and pasta. This weight loss plan is fairly healthy, good amounts of fruits and vegetables as well as saturated fats. Watch triglyceride levels though; if high, trim down the carbohydrates and tuck in more of the unsaturated fats.

The DASH Diet. Advocates moderate amounts of fat and protein intake and high on carbs. Primarily designed to lower blood pressure, the diet plan follows the pyramid food guide and encourages high intake of whole wheat grains as well as fruits and vegetables and low-fat dairy. Some dieters think it advocates too much eating to procure significant weight loss.

Eat More, Weigh Less by Dr. Ornish. Primarily vegetarian fare and strictly low-fat. Gives the go signal on the "glow" foods but warns to watch it on non-fat dairy and egg whites. This diet is poor in calcium and retricts consumption of healthy foods like seafoods and lean poultry.

Eat Right for Your Type. Interesting because it is based on the person's blood type. recommends plenty of mest for people with the blood type O. Diet plans for some blood types are nutritionally imbalanced and too low in calories. And for the record, there is even no proof that blood type affects dietary needs.

The Pritkin Principle. Focused on trimming the calorie density in eating by suggesting watery foods that make one feel full. Eating vegetables, fruits, oatmeal, pasta, soups, salads and low-fat dairy is okay. Although limits protein sources to lean meat, pseafood and poultry. Although it is healthy by providing low amounts of saturated fats and rich amounts of vegetables and fruits, it is also low on calcium and limits lean protein sources.

Volumetrics. For low-density calorie eating. Recommends the same foodstuff as Pritkin but restricts fatty or dry foods like popcorn, pretzels and crackers. This plan is reasonably healthy given the high amounts of fruits and vegetables as well as being low in calorie density and saturated fats.

The Zone. Moderately low on the carbs yet moderately high on the proteins. Encourages low-fat protein foods like fish and chicken plus veggies, fruits and grains. It is also healthy but lacking in grains and calcium.

Weight Watchers. High carbohydrates, moderate on fats and proteins. A very healthy diet plan and very flexible too. it allows the dieter to plan his own meal rather than give him a set to follow.

EFFECT OF ALCOHOL ON THE MEMBRANES

2009-02-06T08:06:00.000-08:00

The parts which first suffer from alcohol are those expansions of the body which the anatomists call the membranes. "The skin is a membranous envelope. Through the whole of the alimentary surface, from the lips downward, and through the bronchial passages to their minutest ramifications, extends the mucous membrane. The lungs, the heart, the liver, the kidneys are folded in delicate membranes, which can be stripped easily from these parts. If you take a portion of bone, you will find it easy to strip off from it a membranous sheath or covering; if you examine a joint, you will find both the head and the socket lined with membranes. The whole of the intestines are enveloped in a fine membrane called peritoneum . All the muscles are enveloped in membranes, and the fasciculi, or bundles and fibres of muscles, have their membranous sheathing. The brain and spinal cord are enveloped in three membranes; one nearest to themselves, a pure vascular structure, a network of blood-vessels; another, a thin serous structure; a third, a strong fibrous structure. The eyeball is a structure of colloidal humors and membranes, and of nothing else. To complete the description, the minute structures of the vital organs are enrolled in membranous matter."

These membranes are the filters of the body. "In their absence there could be no building of structure, no solidification of tissue, nor organic mechanism. Passive themselves, they, nevertheless, separate all structures into their respective positions and adaptations."

Membranous deteriorations.
-------------------------

In order to make perfectly clear to your mind the action and use of these membranous expansions, and the way in which alcohol deteriorates them, and obstructs their work, we quote again from Dr. Richardson:

"The animal receives from the vegetable world and from the earth the food and drink it requires for its sustenance and motion. It receives colloidal food for its muscles: combustible food for its motion; water for the solution of its various parts; salt for constructive and other physical purposes. These have all to be arranged in the body; and they are arranged by means of the membranous envelopes. Through these membranes nothing can pass that is not, for the time, in a state of aqueous solution, like water or soluble salts. Water passes freely through them, salts pass freely through them, but the constructive matter of the active parts that is colloidal does not pass; it is retained in them until it is chemically decomposed into the soluble type of matter. When we take for our food a portion of animal flesh, it is first resolved, in digestion, into a soluble fluid before it can be absorbed; in the blood it is resolved into the fluid colloidal condition; in the solids it is laid down within the membranes into new structure, and when it has played its part, it is digested again, if I may so say, into a crystalloidal soluble substance, ready to be carried away and replaced by addition of new matter, then it is dialysed or passed through, the membranes into the blood, and is disposed of in the excretions.

"See, then, what an all-important part these membranous structures play in the animal life. Upon their integrity all the silent work of the building up of the body depends. If these membranes are rendered too porous, and let out the colloidal fluids of the blood the albumen, for example the body so circumstanced, dies; dies as if it were slowly bled to death. If, on the contrary, they become condensed or thickened, or loaded with foreign material, then they fail to allow the natural fluids to pass through them. They fail to dialyse, and the result is, either an accumulation of the fluid in a closed cavity, or contraction of the substance inclosed within the membrane, or dryness of membrane in surfaces that ought to be freely lubricated and kept apart. In old age we see the effects of modification of membrane naturally induced; we see the fixed joint, the shrunken and feeble muscle, the dimmed eye, the deaf ear, the enfeebled nervous function.

"It may possibly seem, at first sight, that I am leading immediately away from the subject of the secondary action of alcohol. It is not so. I am leading directly to it. Upon all these membranous structures alcohol exerts a direct perversion of action. It produces in them a thickening, a shrinking and an inactivity that reduces their functional power. That they may work rapidly and equally, they require to be at all times charged with water to saturation. If, into contact with them, any agent is brought that deprives them of water, then is their work interfered with; they cease to separate the saline constituents properly; and, if the evil that is thus started, be allowed to continue, they contract upon their contained matter in whatever organ it may be situated, and condense it.

"In brief, under the prolonged influence of alcohol those changes which take place from it in the blood corpuscles, extend to the other organic parts, involving them in structural deteriorations, which are always dangerous, and are often ultimately fatal."

Nutritional Supplements Will Improve Your Health

2009-02-06T08:05:00.000-08:00

The American Medical Association now recommends that everyone take nutritional supplements every day.

With this change in policy, the AMA is now in agreement with what leading nutritionists and nutritional research scientists have been saying for years.

This reversal of policy is in agreement with what nutritional scientists have been stressing for years; our diets are so lacking in nutrients that they are the major cause of disease.

Our bodies are "closed systems"; that is, every nutrient needed for growth, health, wellness, and even survival must come from the food we eat.

Because of this we must look at the foods we eat as a measure of our health, especially our long term health.

As early as 1936 the Government reported on the impact of depleted soils. One excerpt from this report states:

"It is bad news to learn from our leading authorities that 99% of the American people are deficient in these minerals, and that a marked deficiency in anyone of the more important minerals actually results in disease. Any upset of the balance, any considerable lack of one or another element, however microscopic the body requirement may be, and we sicken, suffer, and shorten our lives."

Diseases that we know today to be the leading cause of death; heart disease, cancer, stroke, Alzheimer's disease, arthritis, etc., were virtually unknown 50 years ago.

Leading research scientists have demonstrated a direct link between these diseases and the food we eat.

Their virtually unanimous conclusion is that we simply do not get sufficient nutrients today necessary for a healthy long life.

Their conclusion is now supported by the AMA. To overcome the deficiencies their recommendation is to add nutritional supplements to everyone's daily diet.

While the most commonly recognized nutritional supplements are vitamins, many more nutrients are classified as nutritional supplements. They include:

1) Minerals,

2) Amino acids,

3) Enzymes,

4) Essential fatty acids,

5) Fiber

The basic problem is that the only source of these nutrients that are absolutely essential for our health and wellbeing is the food we eat.

The primary source of vitamins, minerals and amino acids that our bodies need for good health come from our farm soils. Today these are so depleted of nutrients that we simply don't get what we need.

On top of that, the way we cook our food destroys any enzymes that might be available. Any cooking above 119 degrees F destroys enzymes.

The bottom line is that our food no longer is capable of providing the essential elements our bodies need.

Over 43% of Americans now take some form of nutritional supplements and this number is growing as the population ages.

This means that a large portion of Americans acknowledge some vitamin or mineral deficiency.

This is both a good thing and potentially hazardous to our health.

Taking a vitamin is certainly a step in the right direction; however it probably is an insufficient. It can even be argued that taking only one or two types of vitamins gives us the false impression that we are significantly improving our health.

Because all of our nutrients come from the same source, the soils of our farms, is it realistic to believe that our food is deficient in only one or two nutrients?

It is time that we re-think our approach to nutritional supplements. If we accept that our food is deficient in nutrients, we must acknowledge that it is deficient in most nutrients.

Picking and choosing specific vitamins is not the solution. Only a complete nutritional supplement will provide all the nutrients we need to improve our health and lead a long life.

Discover The Most Poprular Natural Supplements For Optimal Health

2009-02-06T08:04:00.000-08:00

In today's world of sophisticated nutraceuticals, there are a wide variety of natural supplements to choose from.

The best daily supplements combine natural nutritional supplements, essential minerals, trace elements, enzymes, amino acids, vitamins, co-factors, herbs and other plant components into single products, so that you won’t need to take ten or more pills every day to get everything that you need and all the health benefits that you want.

Additionally, ingredients in these combination supplements may work together to improve effectiveness. Here’s a brief look at some of the natural supplements that your daily multi nutrient should contain.

For the purpose of this discussion, natural nutritional supplements are naturally occurring compounds that cannot be classified as vitamins or minerals. They are not herbs, although they may be derived from plants. Some are created within the human body, but only in small amounts.

The suggested natural supplements listed here are believed to improve strength, vitality or overall health, prevent chronic diseases and increase longevity if one looks at studies conducted.

Alpha Lipoic Acid (ALA) and Glutathione are natural nutritional supplements that have antioxidant properties. ALA is derived from plants and enhances the effects of other antioxidants. It appears to improve insulin sensitivity and so could prevent insulin resistance and type II diabetes. ALA may improve the body’s ability to add lean mass and reduce fat, so may help prevent obesity, when proper diet and exercise plans are followed.

Glutathione is involved in repairing and creating DNA, proteins, prostaglandins, transporting amino acids, metabolizing and removing toxins and cancer causing agents.

Glutathione deficiency is associated with aging, macular degeneration, diabetes, lung disease, digestive disorders and Parkinson’s. Natural supplements of glutathione support healthy immune system function and activate certain enzymes to perform their duties.

L-Methionine, L-Proline, L-Tyrosine and L-Cysteine are natural nutritional supplements that are amino acids, the building blocks of proteins. There are twenty standard amino acids used by the cells of the body. Some can be created within the human body. Others cannot, so they must be obtained from food or natural supplements. The ones that cannot be created within the human body are referred to as essential amino acids.

L-Methionine is an essential amino acid important in hair, nail and muscle production. It helps to maintain the liver and is used by the body to produce creatine and other non-essential amino acids. L-Proline, along with vitamin C, is needed to create collagen, the building blocks for tendons, ligaments, arteries, veins and muscles.

L-tyrosine is a non-essential amino acid, but it is included in natural nutritional supplements because of the large quantity that the body needs every day, particularly for people under stress. It is needed to create thyroxin and melanin, catecholamine, nor epinephrine, epinephrine and dopamine, which can all be depleted by stressful conditions. It may relieve depression, PMS, chronic fatigue and has an appetite suppressing effect.

N-Acetyl Cysteine is used in natural supplements because it is more stable than other forms of l-cysteine, an essential amino acid. Cysteine is used by the body to create its own antioxidants. Natural nutritional supplements containing this amino have been shown to improve immune system function and slow down the aging process.

Choline is a naturally occurring compound created by the liver. Supplementation is recommended for body building, delaying fatigue and increasing sports endurance. Natural supplements of choline may be useful for preventing cancer and for those who suffer from asthma.

The 3 “D's” that follow have long names, but never fear they are natural nutritional supplements just the same.

Diindolylmethane

may prevent PMS, as well as breast and uterine cancer. DMAE is used for its anti-aging effects and memory enhancement. It has been shown to stimulate vivid, lucid dreams, suggesting possible sleep pattern enhancement.

DMG reduces the effects of physical and environmental stress. It has anti-inflammatory action and anti-aging effects. It helps the body maintain normal cholesterol, blood pressure and blood glucose levels.

Carnosine is a di-peptite found in skeletal muscle, heart muscle, and brain and nerve tissue. As a person ages, their muscles have lower levels of carnosine. It is included in natural nutritional supplements because it may play a role in preventing atherosclerosis, join inflammation and cataract formation, as well as other diseases that are often attributed to aging.

Myricetin is a plant antioxidant that protects the veins and arteries. It has anti-tumor properties. Natural supplements are recommended for the prevention of atherosclerosis, diabetes and prostate problems.

N-Acetyl D-Glucosamine is needed by the body to create compounds found in tendons, ligaments, cartilage, and the mucous membranes, structures in the eye, the blood vessels and heart valves. It can be created synthetically in the lab, but natural supplements are derived from the exoskeletons of fish.

Resveratrol is the component in red wine that is “good for you”. It also supports healthy cholesterol levels, is a natural anti-inflammatory, and an antiviral.

Chronic inflammation is believed to be at the root cause of most forms of cancer and heart disease. Natural anti-inflammatories are believed to provide protection from chronic inflammation and the chronic and life threatening diseases caused by it.

Quercetin is found in many plant foods, is a powerful antioxidant and anti-inflammatory. It may be helpful to persons suffering from allergies, because it inhibits the release of histamine, without the side effects of synthetic antihistamines.

Last, but not least of the important natural nutritional supplements is Ribonucleic Acid. Ribonucleic Acid is used to improve memory and mental sharpness. It may be useful in treating depression and preventing Alzheimer’s. It increases energy, tightens skin, improves sex drive and counteracts the affects of aging. It supports the immunes system and promotes healing.

Though it may be hard to find natural supplements containing all of the ingredients mentioned here, it is well worth the effort and will save you money, time and improve your health. (By Mila Sabido)

Nutritional Vitamins

2009-02-02T04:53:00.000-08:00

Nutritional vitamins have become the most essential supplement along with our daily food intake. The absence of nutrients is not acceptable by our body. It simply cannot function perfectly without the vitamin nutrition. But have you ever calculated how much of vitamins your body needs? I guess not.

Different vitamins have different contribution to your body, i.e. vitamin C will help you to have healthy gums and also help your body absorb the required iron content whereas vitamin D will help you to build stronger bones. Vitamin A helps you in having good hair and skin whereas vitamin E protects cells in your body, and so forth. You never try to analyze as to how much of any of the vitamins are required and in which proportion.

Aspen Life Vitamin Supplement Pack customizes according to your needs and your deficiencies. Nutritional vitamins from Aspen Life, not only give nutrients to your body but also gives them as much as required.

We have our team of expert nutritionists who have been working in this field for more than 30 years. This team helps to formulate a personalized pack of vitamin nutrition, which can work perfectly for you. Our motto is to help you have a healthy and happy life, a life that is not hampered by the deficiency of the most common vitamins, which helps us go.

As we take care of our weight and curtail on some common food, it becomes necessary for us to replace the vitamins, which we are missing in our diet chart. It might be that while stopping the intake of carbohydrate we are also avoiding the absorption of an antioxidant, which acts as an anti aging for our skin.

Not only while we are trying to keep a check on your weight and skipping various food items but also each of us has a different lifestyle. We have a personal pattern, which we follow, and which comprises of the number of hours we work, or the number of hours we sleep and the amount of stress we go through.

All these above-mentioned conditions boil down to your health and how it is functioning. So, it is very clear to us that the quality and quantity of vitamins, which you need, will never be same as the one taken by your neighbor. This is when we find the necessity for a customized pack of nutritional vitamins.

It is ‘next to impossible’ for a layman to gauge the requirement and also count the amount and quality of vitamin nutrition as per our body’s requirement. This is the time when we come forward with our experts, and prepare for you a nutritional vitamin pack of supplement, which fits you and your needs.

Modern Research gives us a clear picture as to how many individuals in our society actually fulfill the body’s need, and the numbers are really not encouraging. It compels us to take an initiative to help you all in getting the quality tested vitamin nutrients. It is not only to individuals but also to the society at large that matters, and it not only includes a certain age group but to every person who needs a supplement to his/her diet.

Nutritional vitamins not only prevent us from getting deadly diseases like cancer or heart ailments but also help us lead a life comprising of perfect balance between mind and body. (By Casey McConnell)

Antioxidant Supplements

2009-02-02T04:51:00.000-08:00

A key ingredient to improving your lifestyle and living a healthy life is antioxidants. There are several antioxidant supplements out there that can help you live a healthy life, that are natural and won’t cause you any damage. You can also eat different types of food that contain antioxidants as well, although supplements are the ideal way to get the right amounts of antioxidants.

If you take in more antioxidants through food and supplements, there are a few benefits that you’ll have, with the first being cell protection. Antioxidants can help to protect your cells from damage, which helps to fend off diseases. Many times, you can have a lack of vitamins in your body, which will cause you to recover from diseases or injury very slow. If you have the right amount of vitamins and antioxidants in your body, you’ll notice the differences.

In most cases, you can get antioxidant supplements in the form of herbal or natural, which will greatly help your body. They have a lot of benefits as well, such as preventing various diseases, keeping blood clotting under control, and restoring libido. Nutrition and proper dieting is a very important part of life, therefore you should always keep your health under control and make sure you eat well.

There are non synthetic supplements out there as well, that are ideal for keeping your health maintained. They can be easily absorbed by your body, unlike that of synthetic supplements. Synthetic supplements are well known for their absorbing, as it can take a long time before you see any type of results. Non synthetic on the other hand, gives you almost immediate results, as they are easily absorbed by the body and don’t have any type of side effects.

Keep in mind that even though you may be taking vitamins that contain antioxidants, you’ll still need to remain on a healthy diet. You’ll need food that contains the minerals and vitamins you need as well, although the supplement vitamins will give you more. You can also use vitamins and supplements that contain antioxidants if you aren’t able to eat the right foods that contain these precious nutrients.

For more reasons than one, you should always make sure that you include foods and supplements that contain antioxidants in your diet. If you aren’t taking in the right amount of antioxidants, you’ll be at a risk for disease or other harmful effects. Antioxidants do a lot for your body, which is why you want to ensure that you are taking in the right amounts. You can find many different vitamins and supplements that include them, all you need to do is make sure that you are eating right and doing all you can to lead a healthy lifestyle.

Fighting High Cholesterol in Healthy Aging

2009-02-02T04:46:00.000-08:00

Too much cholesterol causes many medical problems for one. Cholesterol is something that clogs the arteries in your heart. In addition, cholesterol when out of control could cause massive heart attacks, or series of strokes.

What can I do about my cholesterol?
If your body has too much cholesterol, it isn’t good for you. You have the power within you however to take control. Failing to take control only leads to problems. The problems will accumulate; wear you down until finally abnormal aging takes your life. You can gain control by exercising each day and eating the right foods. Visiting your doctor regularly is another way to work toward healthy aging. Your family doctor will give you medication to take to help lower your cholesterol.

When you have high cholesterol, you have to eat right and exercise daily. To lower your cholesterol take action now. It will take some time to get your cholesterol at bay, but it will happen if you take action now. You also want to take time out for self, activities, socializing etc to keep your cholesterol at bay. When cholesterol is out of control, the cause comes to focus, which is arteriosclerosis. If you lower your cholesterol by taking action now you can avoid strokes, heart attacks, and even death. Learn more about statins to control cholesterol. You can also avoid smoking to lower your cholesterol. In addition, you can lower your risks of diabetes, heart attack, and obesity and so on by controlling your cholesterol.

Keep in mind that high cholesterol problems include the worst case scenario and the not so bad. The worst type is the LDL. HDL cholesterol at higher levels is a good thing. If these levels combined with triglycerides increase, thus your chances of stroke or heart attacks are high.

What kind of foods has cholesterol?
There is cholesterol in all foods in less it has cholesterol free on the package. Some food has more in it then others. Like your cooking oils and grease has a lot of cholesterol in it, some of your bread has cholesterol. Eggs are very high cholesterol foods and so are your butters. You have to read the back of the packages to determine the level of cholesterol.

What can happen to me if my cholesterol is high?
The only way that you can tell if your cholesterol is high is to go to your family doctor and get a blood test. If you go to your family doctor like your suppose to you will have it checked in the blood they draw. However, some of the things that can happen to you if its high is that your arteries will harden. This means your body is building fats and too much cholesterol. The normal or average reading should be 140 or 130 over 200 mg/dl. If you can maintain this level, you will be ok.

If the cholesterol gets out of hand, it hardens the arteries. This means the blood will not flow through to the heart, making it to pump naturally. The heart will pump at unnatural rates, working harder to keep you alive.
High diastolic is high cholesterol that increases risks of heart attacks, since your heart doesn’t get any blood to it due to clotting or breaking of blood vessels, then there is stroke which is when the brain don’t get enough blood due to oxygen decrease to it because of clotting or broken blood vessels. High-cholesterol puts you at risk of diabetes also, since it affects the hemoglobin. To learn more, visit your doctor.

Vitamin And Mineral Supplementation

2009-01-28T10:15:00.000-08:00

Vitamin and mineral supplements are sometimes needed for overall nutrition.Vitamins are organic compounds that our bodies use, in very small amounts, for a variety of metabolic processes. Vitamin and mineral are substances your body needs in small but steady amounts for normal growth, function and health. Together, vitamin and mineral are called micronutrients.

Vitamin A helps to produce and preserve system tissues such as ivory and rind; it too helps the system’s imagination, anxious structure functioning, replica, and increase. Vitamin C helps organize tissues, cells, bones and teeth; heals wounds; and improves the exempt structure’s operation.

Vitamin K helps the body’s blood clot in wounded areas. Zinc is responsible for helping metabolize proteins and keeping enzymes functioning.

Iron delivers oxygen to the body’s cells. Each vitamin has specific jobs. Vitamin A prevents night blindness.

3Multi-vitamin Supplements To Be At The Peak Of Health
Executive Summary about Vitamin And Mineral by Dr. Rose Windale

In the olden days, people got the essential vitamins and minerals that they needed from natural sources – the water, the sun, and unadulterated food that they ate. Vitamins and minerals are needed – perennially- whether it be by generations from the past, the present and the future.

Even the transportation of our food products deplete its vitamin and mineral content. One of the ultimate solutions then is to resort to vitamin supplements. The American Medical Association (AMA) advised all adults to take at least one multi-vitamin supplement a day which is contrary to their long standing anti-vitamin policy. This policy change was instigated by researches on the effects of vitamin supplements. Individuals who adequately take vitamin supplements were found to have lower risks of getting serious illnesses such as osteoporosis, heart disease and cancer.

The way we eat also contributes to the degeneration of our vitamin and mineral intake. This only proves how essential it is to take vitamin supplements to augment our need for essential nutrients. There is growing evidence that higher levels of many vitamins (whether from food or vitamin supplements) prevent vitamin-deficiency disorders and are necessary for optimum health.

Balanced diet is foremost, coupled with vitamin supplements.

MEDICAL TESTIMONY ON ALCOHOL

2009-01-28T10:03:00.000-08:00

Dr. Ezra M. Hunt says: "The capacity of the alcohols for impairment of functions and the initiation and promotion of organic lesions in vital parts, is unsurpassed by any record in the whole range of medicine. The facts as to this are so indisputable, and so far granted by the profession, as to be no longer debatable . Changes in stomach and liver, in kidneys and lungs, in the blood-vessels to the minutest capillary, and in the blood to the smallest red and white blood disc disturbances of secretion, fibroid and fatty degenerations in almost every organ, impairment of muscular power, impressions so profound on both nervous systems as to be often toxic these, and such as these, are the oft manifested results. And these are not confined to those called intemperate."

Professor Youmans says: "It is evident that, so far from being the conservator of health, alcohol is an active and powerful cause of disease, interfering, as it does, with the respiration, the circulation and the nutrition; now, is any other result possible?"

Dr. F.R. Lees says: "That alcohol should contribute to the fattening process under certain conditions, and produce in drinkers fatty degeneration of the blood, follows, as a matter of course, since, on the one hand, we have an agent that retains waste matter by lowering the nutritive and excretory functions, and on the other, a direct poisoner of the vesicles of the vital stream."

Dr. Henry Monroe says: "There is no kind of tissue, whether healthy or morbid, that may not undergo fatty degeneration; and there is no organic disease so troublesome to the medical man, or so difficult of cure. If, by the aid of the microscope, we examine a very fine section of muscle taken from a person in good health, we find the muscles firm, elastic and of a bright red color, made up of parallel fibres, with beautiful crossings or striae; but, if we similarly examine the muscle of a man who leads an idle, sedentary life, and indulges in intoxicating drinks, we detect, at once, a pale, flabby, inelastic, oily appearance. Alcoholic narcotization appears to produce this peculiar conditions of the tissues more than any other agent with which we are acquainted. 'Three-quarters of the chronic illness which the medical man has to treat,' says Dr. Chambers, 'are occasioned by this disease.' The eminent French analytical chemist, Lecanu, found as much as one hundred and seventeen parts of fat in one thousand parts of a drunkard's blood, the highest estimate of the quantity in health being eight and one-quarter parts, while the ordinary quantity is not more than two or three parts, so that the blood of the drunkard contains forty times in excess of the ordinary quantity."

Dr. Hammond, who has written, in partial defense of alcohol as containing a food power, says: "When I say that it, of all other causes, is most prolific in exciting derangements of the brain, the spinal cord and the nerves, I make a statement which my own experience shows to be correct."

Another eminent physician says of alcohol: "It substitutes suppuration for growth. It helps time to produce the effects of age; and, in a word, is the genius of degeneration."

Dr. Monroe, from whom "Alcohol, taken in small quantities, or largely diluted, as in the form of beer, causes the stomach gradually to lose its tone, and makes it dependent upon artificial stimulus. Atony, or want of tone of the stomach, gradually supervenes, and incurable disorder of health results. Should a dose of alcoholic drink be taken daily, the heart will very often become hypertrophied, or enlarged throughout. Indeed, it is painful to witness how many persons are actually laboring under disease of the heart, owing chiefly to the use of alcoholic liquors."

Dr. T.K. Chambers, physician to the Prince of Wales, says: "Alcohol is really the most ungenerous diet there is. It impoverishes the blood, and there is no surer road to that degeneration of muscular fibre so much to be feared; and in heart disease it is more especially hurtful, by quickening the beat, causing capillary congestion and irregular circulation, and thus mechanically inducing dilatation."

Sir Henry Thompson, a distinguished surgeon, says: "Don't take your daily wine under any pretext of its doing you good. Take it frankly as a luxury one which must be paid for, by some persons very lightly, by some at a high price, but always to be paid for. And, mostly, some loss of health, or of mental power, or of calmness of temper, or of judgment, is the price."

Dr. Charles Jewett says: "The late Prof. Parks, of England, in his great work on Hygiene, has effectually disposed of the notion, long and very generally entertained, that alcohol is a valuable prophylactic where a bad climate, bad water and other conditions unfavorable to health, exist; and an unfortunate experiment with the article, in the Union army, on the banks of the Chickahominy, in the year 1863, proved conclusively that, instead of guarding the human constitution against the influence of agencies hostile to health, its use gives to them additional force. The medical history of the British army in India teaches the same lesson."

But why present farther testimony? Is not the evidence complete? To the man who values good health; who would not lay the foundation for disease and suffering in his later years, we need not offer a single additional argument in favor of entire abstinence from alcoholic drinks. He will eschew them as poisons.

"Losing Weight? - Go Herbal"

2009-01-28T10:01:00.000-08:00

These days, there is a great need for overweight Americans to lose those excess pounds. Being healthy would not only lead them to have a healthier lifestyle but it will also literally lighten their load, and improve their overall well-being.

There is a long list of dieting options available. There are exercise programs, exercise machines, dietary supplements, dietary food and drinks, diet pills - there are even soaps which claim to help you lose pounds while you bathe.

One other available option to shed off those unwanted pounds is to go herbal.

Herbal weight loss products have been in great demand for people who want to lose weight the natural way. However, when you take herbal supplements to lose weight, you would have to wait for a longer time for the results because of the more subtle effects of medicines which came from plants and natural herbs.

Here are some herbal weight loss options that you might want to consider:

1. Herbal weight loss products

There are a lot of herbal weight loss products available in the market now. You can check out the Internet and you will find a lot of herbal weight loss pills and products.

Be careful, however, as there are some products which claim to be safe and natural because they are herbal, but some actually have side effects because of non-extensive research on the effects of these products.

Here are some ingredients and chemicals which make up some herbal weight loss products that you should watch out for, as they might have harmful effects to your health:

> Senna. This is an herbal laxative. Senna is a main ingredient in weight loss teas, and it works by stimulation the colon. The downside effect of this herb is dehydration. It can also lead to colon problems and can become addictive. Some people, when addicted, are unable to perform bowel movements without it, so watch out.

> Chromium picolinate. This is a synthetic compound found in herbal weight loss products. Chromium is a nutrient which helps regulate blood-sugar level. However, this ingredient, when taken in high doses, may cause damage in the chromosomes. It can also lead to dehydration.

> St. John's wort. This supplement increases the production of a chemical in the brain. If not used properly, it may cause eye and skin sensitivity, mild gastrointestinal distress, fatigue and itching.

Although a lot of herbal products claim to be safe and natural, it is better to scrutinize the ingredients and research about the effects of the product itself before going for these herbal dietary pills.

2. Organic food.

In Wichita, Kansas, organic food has found its way to more homes and restaurants. Organic food devotees believe that consuming organic goodies help their bodies as well as the environment.

A person who buys organically raised eggs and vegetables claim to be healthier, and they are not spending money on doctors and prescriptions as these keep them healthier and away from the hospital. This could also be an option for weight watchers, as organic food is known to be kinder to your weight than chemically-processed food products.

3. Green Tea.

Studies show that intake of green tea, or green tea extracts burns extra calories. Also, green tea with caffeine can increase fat burning by up to 40% thereby reducing fat.

This is one good option for those who want to lose weight. In a study done, people who took green tea were found to lose 2 to 3 times more weight than those who did not drink green tea.

These results show that green tea is a natural product for the treatment of obesity. Thus, it also makes for a healthier dietary option, not to mention the good effects that it has on the body as compared to caffeine. A cup of tea gives an emmediate energy lift without the side effects of caffeine.

3. Caffeine.

Coffee provides an energy boost to increase fat burning. Caffeine also provides a likelihood to be active, which in turn increases your rate of calorie burn.

4. Immortality Herb

This herb, whose scientific name is Gymnostemna Pentaphyllum, is known to have the following benefits:

> increases healthy blood flow
> reduces artery blocks
> aids healthy blood pressure
> increases the rate of fat burning

5. Apple Cider Vinegar

There are pills and food supplements whose main ingredient is apple cider vinegar. Here are the benefits of taking this herbal option:

> weight loss
> improved cholesterol level
> improved high blood pressure
> helps prevent rheumatoid arthritis

Fight Stress With Healthy Eating

2009-01-26T04:39:00.000-08:00

Whenever we get too busy or stressed, we all tend
to make poor food choices that will actually
increase stress and cause other problems. To get
the most of your healthy eating and avoid stress,
follow these simple tips.

Always eat breakfast
Even though you may think you aren't hungry,
you need to eat something. Skipping breakfast
makes it harder to maintain the proper blood and
sugar levels during the day, so you should always
eat something.

Carry a snack
Keeping some protein rich snacks in your car,
office, or pocket book will help you avoid blood
sugar level dips, the accompanying mood swings, and
the fatigue. Trail mix, granola bars, and energy
bars all have the nutrients you need.

Healthy munchies
If you like to munch when you're stressed out,
you can replace chips or other non healthy foods
with carrot sticks, celery sticks, or even
sunflower seeds.

Bring your lunch
Although a lot of people prefer to eat fast food
for lunch, you can save a lot of money and actually
eat healthier if you take a few minutes and pack
a lunch at home. Even if you only do this a few
times a week, you'll see a much better improvement
over eating out.

Stock your home
As important as it is to get the bad food out of
your house, it's even more important to get the good
food in! The best way to do this is to plan a menu
of healthy meals at snacks at the beginning of the
week, list the ingedients you need, then go shop
for it. This way, you'll know what you want when
you need it and you won't have to stress over what
to eat.

Taking a Vitamin Supplement

2009-01-26T04:36:00.000-08:00

There are a number of essential vitamins that the body needs to function properly and it is possible to take these in the form f a vitamin supplement. The majority of people do not have a balanced diet and they may be lacking in certain vitamins which means that they require a vitamin supplement to ensure that they do not have a deficiency of an essential vitamin. A health professional or dietary technician is the best person to give advice on any vitamin supplement that a person should take. It is important to seek professional advice before taking any vitamin supplement. This is because there are some vitamins that can be toxic if too much is consumed and a vitamin supplement may not be appropriate if there is enough of the vitamin already in the food a person eats.

Some categories of people may require more types of vitamin supplement than others. Vegetarians are often deficient in certain vitamins that are only found in animal products, for example, and a vitamin supplement is the ideal solution to this problem. Vegetarians do need to be aware that some vitamin supplement manufacturing processes involve animal products and it is important for them to read the labels. A large number of synthetic vitamin supplement products are available which will enable a vegetarian to take them without contravening their dietary beliefs or needs.

Children will often need a vitamin supplement, especially when they are extremely young. This is because a lot of children do not eat a sufficient variety of foods in their early years and a vitamin supplement can help compensate for this natural deficiency. Breast feeding has long been recommended as a source of all the essential nutrients but women who choose not to or are unable to bottle feed may be concerned as to whether their baby needs a vitamin supplement. The large majority of baby milk formulas contain additional vitamins to prevent the need for a vitamin supplement to be given. It is important to discuss any concerns over the need for a baby or child to take a vitamin supplement with a health professional to ensure that the correct solution is found.

Elderly people or those suffering from certain diseases or illnesses are other groups of people that may need to take a vitamin supplement. The body may often need a vitamin supplement to compensate for a person not being able to consume the recommended daily allowance of certain vitamins through their normal diet.

EFFECT OF ALCOHOL ON THE BLOOD

2009-01-26T04:34:00.000-08:00

Dr. Richardson, in his lectures on alcohol, given both in England and America, speaking of the action of this substance on the blood after passing from the stomach, says:

"Suppose, then, a certain measure of alcohol be taken into the stomach, it will be absorbed there, but, previous to absorption, it will have to undergo a proper degree of dilution with water, for there is this peculiarity respecting alcohol when it is separated by an animal membrane from a watery fluid like the blood, that it will not pass through the membrane until it has become charged, to a given point of dilution, with water. It is itself, in fact, so greedy for water, it will pick it up from watery textures, and deprive them of it until, by its saturation, its power of reception is exhausted , after which it will diffuse into the current of circulating fluid."

It is this power of absorbing water from every texture with which alcoholic spirits comes in contact, that creates the burning thirst of those who freely indulge in its use. Its effect, when it reaches the circulation, is thus described by Dr. Richardson:

"As it passes through the circulation of the lungs it is exposed to the air, and some little of it, raised into vapor by the natural heat, is thrown off in expiration. If the quantity of it be large, this loss may be considerable, and the odor of the spirit may be detected in the expired breath. If the quantity be small, the loss will be comparatively little, as the spirit will be held in solution by the water in the blood. After it has passed through the lungs, and has been driven by the left heart over the arterial circuit, it passes into what is called the minute circulation, or the structural circulation of the organism. The arteries here extend into very small vessels, which are called arterioles, and from these infinitely small vessels spring the equally minute radicals or roots of the veins, which are ultimately to become the great rivers bearing the blood back to the heart. In its passage through this minute circulation the alcohol finds its way to every organ. To this brain, to these muscles, to these secreting or excreting organs, nay, even into this bony structure itself, it moves with the blood. In some of these parts which are not excreting, it remains for a time diffused, and in those parts where there is a large percentage of water, it remains longer than in other parts. From some organs which have an open tube for conveying fluids away, as the liver and kidneys, it is thrown out or eliminated, and in this way a portion of it is ultimately removed from the body. The rest passing round and round with the circulation, is probably decomposed and carried off in new forms of matter.

"When we know the course which the alcohol takes in its passage through the body, from the period of its absorption to that of its elimination, we are the better able to judge what physical changes it induces in the different organs and structures with which it comes in contact. It first reaches the blood; but, as a rule, the quantity of it that enters is insufficient to produce any material effect on that fluid. If, however, the dose taken be poisonous or semi-poisonous, then even the blood, rich as it is in water and it contains seven hundred and ninety parts in a thousand is affected. The alcohol is diffused through this water, and there it comes in contact with the other constituent parts, with the fibrine, that plastic substance which, when blood is drawn, clots and coagulates, and which is present in the proportion of from two to three parts in a thousand; with the albumen which exists in the proportion of seventy parts; with the salts which yield about ten parts; with the fatty matters; and lastly, with those minute, round bodies which float in myriads in the blood (which were discovered by the Dutch philosopher, Leuwenhock, as one of the first results of microscopical observation, about the middle of the seventeenth century), and which are called the blood globules or corpuscles. These last-named bodies are, in fact, cells; their discs, when natural, have a smooth outline, they are depressed in the centre, and they are red in color; the color of the blood being derived from them. We have discovered that there exist other corpuscles or cells in the blood in much smaller quantity, which are called white cells, and these different cells float in the blood-stream within the vessels. The red take the centre of the stream; the white lie externally near the sides of the vessels, moving less quickly. Our business is mainly with the red corpuscles. They perform the most important functions in the economy; they absorb, in great part, the oxygen which we inhale in breathing, and carry it to the extreme tissues of the body; they absorb, in great part, the carbonic acid gas which is produced in the combustion of the body in the extreme tissues, and bring that gas back to the lungs to be exchanged for oxygen there; in short, they are the vital instruments of the circulation.

"With all these parts of the blood, with the water, fibrine, albumen, salts, fatty matter and corpuscles, the alcohol comes in contact when it enters the blood, and, if it be in sufficient quantity, it produces disturbing action. I have watched this disturbance very carefully on the blood corpuscles; for, in some animals we can see these floating along during life, and we can also observe them from men who are under the effects of alcohol, by removing a speck of blood, and examining it with the microscope. The action of the alcohol, when it is observable, is varied. It may cause the corpuscles to run too closely together, and to adhere in rolls; it may modify their outline, making the clear-defined, smooth, outer edge irregular or crenate, or even starlike; it may change the round corpuscle into the oval form, or, in very extreme cases, it may produce what I may call a truncated form of corpuscles, in which the change is so great that if we did not trace it through all its stages, we should be puzzled to know whether the object looked at were indeed a blood-cell. All these changes are due to the action of the spirit upon the water contained in the corpuscles; upon the capacity of the spirit to extract water from them. During every stage of modification of corpuscles thus described, their function to absorb and fix gases is impaired, and when the aggregation of the cells, in masses, is great, other difficulties arise, for the cells, united together, pass less easily than they should through the minute vessels of the lungs and of the general circulation, and impede the current, by which local injury is produced.

A Lack Of Vitamins

2009-01-25T07:00:00.000-08:00

Everyone knows that the human body needs a certain amount of vitamins and minerals everyday to function properly and remain healthy. A well balanced diet can supply your body with the vitamins it needs, although problems and disorders can arise if your diet doesn’t supply your body with the vitamins it needs. The symptoms of vitamin deficiency will normally present themselves when the lack of vitamins is at an advanced level.

Those who don’t get enough of vitamins A, B1, and B2 for example, will always feel tired, along with a loss of appetite. Other symptoms include mental and emotional stress, chapped lips, and other annoying or painful habits.

The most common causes of deficiency include a poor diet, alcoholism, stress, a lack of vitamins, or medicine that interferes with your ingestion of vitamins. If you are always feeling tired or feeling a lack of energy, you are probably short on the vitamins that your body needs to have on a daily basis. If you visit your doctor and tell him the problem, he will probably recommend vitamins and supplements that will give you want you need. Whatever you do, you should never overdo it and try to catch up on what you’ve been missing - as this will do you more harm than good.

Even though you may be following a healthy diet, you’ll still need to take vitamins and supplements. No matter how healthy you eat, you should still use the right vitamins and supplements to give your body what it needs. Vitamins are a great back up source, as they will provide your body with the minerals and nutrients it needs in the event of your diet failing you.

Before or after every meal that you consume, you should take vitamins or supplements. If you have a deficiency in a certain vitamin or vitamins, you should make sure that you never miss taking the vitamin you need. Even though you may not realize it, being deficient in a vitamin can greatly damper your performance as well as the overall health of your body.

When you look for supplements, you should always look for those that contain vitamins B6, B12, D, E, and folic acid. Along with being considered dietary supplements, these well known vitamins will help to fight cancer and help your heart remain healthy. The combination of these vitamins will help your body to remain healthy, boost your immune system, and keep you feeling refreshed.

To remain healthy and keep your body operating as it should, you’ll need to invest in vitamins and supplements. You can find them online or at local nutrition stores, many of which won’t cost you much money at all. No matter what your age may be, you’ll need to ensure that you are eating the right foods and taking the right foods. Keep in mind that you should never replace food with vitamins, as they are more less meant to give you additional nutrients and minerals.

Anytime you aren’t able to eat the right food, you should always turn to vitamin supplements to give your body what it needs. Supplements and vitamins are one of the best investments you can make, as everyone needs vitamins in their body. Even though the costs may add up over time, it is more than worth it when you think about. For what you spend in vitamins and supplements, you’ll be keeping your body healthy - and preventing a deficiency in vitamins. Although vitamin deficiency is very common these days, it doesn’t have to be.

ACTION OF ALCOHOL ON INTERNAL ORGANS

2009-01-25T06:58:00.000-08:00

Action on the stomach.
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The action of alcohol on the stomach is extremely dangerous that it becomes unable to produce the natural digestive fluid in sufficient quantity and also fails to absorb the food which it may imperfectly digest. A condition marked by the sense of nausea emptiness, prostration and distention will always be faced by an alcoholic. This results in a loathing for food and is teased with a craving for more drink. Thus there is engendered a permanent disorder which is called dyspepsia. The disastrous forms of confirmed indigestion originate by this practice.

How the liver gets affected.
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The organic deteriorations caused by the continued use of alcohol are often of a fatal character. The organ which most frequently undergoes structural changes from alcohol, is the liver. Normally, the liver has the capacity to hold active substances in its cellular parts. In instances of poisoning by various poisonous compounds, we analyse liver as if it were the central depot of the foreign matter. It is practically the same in respect to alcohol. The liver of an alcoholic is never free from the influence of alcohol and it is too often saturated with it. The minute membranous or capsular structure of the liver gets affected, preventing proper dialysis and free secretion. The liver becomes large due to the dilatation of its vessels, the surcharge of fluid matter and the thickening of tissue. This follows contraction of membrane and shrinking of the whole organ in its cellular parts. Then the lower parts of the alcoholic becomes dropsical owing to the obstruction offered to the returning blood by the veins. The structure of the liver may be charged with fatty cells and undergo what is technically designated 'fatty liver'.

How the Kidneys deteriorate.
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The Kidneys also suffer due to the excessive consumption of alcohol. The vessels of Kidneys lose elasticity and power of contraction. The minute structures in them go through fatty modification. Albumin from the blood easily passes through their membranes. This results in the body losing its power as if it were being run out of blood gradually.

Congestion of the lungs.
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Alcohol relaxes the vessels of the lungs easily as they are most exposed to the fluctuations of heat and cold. When subjected to the effects of a rapid variation in atmospheric temperature, they get readily congested. During severe winter seasons, the suddenly fatal congestions of lungs easily affects an alcoholic.

Alcohol weakens the heart.
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Consumption of alcohol greatly affects the heart. The quality of the membraneous structures which cover and line the heart changes and are thickened, become cartilaginous or calcareous. Then the valves lose their suppleness and what is termed valvular disorder becomes permanent. The structure of the the coats of the great blood-vessel leading from the heart share in the same changes of structure so that the vessel loses its elasticity and its power to feed the heart by the recoil from its distention, after the heart, by its stroke, has filled it with blood.

Again, the muscular structure of the heart fails owing to degenerative changes in its tissue. The elements of the muscular fibre are replaced by fatty cells or, if not so replaced, are themselves transferred into a modified muscular texture in which the power of contraction is greatly reduced.

Those who suffer from these organic deteriorations of the central and governing organ of the circulation of the blood learn the fact so insidiously, it hardly breaks upon them until the mischief is far advanced. They are conscious of a central failure of power from slight causes such as overexertion, trouble, broken rest or too long abstinence from food. They feel what they call a 'sinking' but they know that wine or some other stimulant will at once relieve the sensation. Thus they seek to relieve it until at last they discover that the remedy fails. The jaded, overworked, faithful heart will bear no more. it has run its course and the governor of the blood-streams broken. The current either overflows into the tissues gradually damming up the courses or under some slight shock or excess of motion ceases wholly at the centre.

Eating Healthy For Vegetarians

2009-01-25T06:56:00.000-08:00

The vegetarian way of eating can be a very healthy style
of eating. The rules still apply with healthy eating,
although you should add variety, balance, and moderation.

A vegetarian is someone who avoids all types of meat,
whether it be hamburgers, hotdogs, chicken, or even fish.
Vegetarians are also sometimes classified by the type of
food they are or aren't willing to eat. For example,
Lacto-ovo vegetarians will avoid animal flesh yet they
will eat eggs and most dairy products. A Vegan on the
other hand, will avoid all food that has any trace of
animal origin.

Because they don't eat meet, vegetarians will often
wonder how they'll get enough protein. Although you may
not realize it, the average American actually consumes
more protein than he actually needs. For the lacto-ovo
vegetarian, dairy products are an excellent source of
protein. Vegans on the other hand, get their protein
from nuts, seeds, and soy products.

Along the lines of beans, there are several to choose
from, including green or red lentils, peanuts, split
peas, pinto, soy, kidney, and many more. Some of them
you are already familiar, such as kidney beans in
chili, refried beans in Mexican dishes, red beans and
rice, and pinto beans. Although some beans taste good
as they are, others are available with different flavors
to help enhance their taste. Nuts are hihg in protein,
although they deliver a lot more fat than beans, which
means you should enjoy them in moderation. By having
one cup of cooked beans, you'll get the same amount of
protein as eating two ounces of meat!

The nutrients of concern for vegans, who avoid all types
of animal food, are vitamin B12, calcium, and vitamin D.
In the average North American diet, the primary source
for B12 is animals. To have an adequate intake of B12,
vegans should reguarly consume vitamin B12 supplements or
foods, which contain vitamin B12, such as soy products
or milk.

For calcium, vegans can rely on orange juice or soy
milk, as they are fortified with calcium. Beans and
leafy green vegetables will also contain some calcium as
well.

Although all types of vegetarians rely on simple food
groups, controlling your vitamins and calcium intake is
something you should always do. This is very important
for eating healthy, as well as staying healthy. If you
control what you eat, you'll have many years of healthy
eating ahead of you.

Glaceau Vitamin Water

2009-01-25T06:53:00.000-08:00

An increasing number of people are becoming more conscious of the amount of vitamin intake that their diet does or does not provide and the need for new products, including vitamin water, that provide a convenient method of obtaining more of the essential vitamins is constantly being sought. One extremely popular brand of vitamin water is Glaceau Vitamin Water. This vitamin water is a low calorie nutrient enhanced water. The vitamin water is available in a number of different flavours and provides an extremely healthy alternative to other high calorie drinks.

The Glaceau vitamin water was developed by J. Darius Bikoff who wanted a vitamin enhanced drink that had a pleasant flavour. Unlike a lot of other so-called health drinks, the vitamin water is not overpowering but has a higher vitamin content than traditional drinks. The vitamin water is essentially biologically better water that ensures that a person has a sufficient intake of certain vitamins and minerals.

Glacaeau vitamin water is an industry leader in enhanced water beverages and it is available in a wide variety of flavours including perform lemon-lime vitamin water, formula 50 vitamin water, defense vitamin water, vital-t vitamin water, endurance peach mango vitamin water, rescue green tea vitamin water, multi-v lemonade vitamin water, stress b lemon-lime vitamin water, revive fruit punch vitamin water, focus kiwi-strawberry vitamin water, essential orange-orange vitamin water, balance cran-grapefruit vitamin water, power-c dragonfruit vitamin water and energy tropical citrus vitamin water.

The actual vitamin and mineral content of Glaceau vitamin water varies depending on the type. Here are some of the specific nutrition facts for a number of the flavours of Glaceau vitamin water available:

Defense

Calories 50; Total Fat 0g; Sodium 0mg; Total Carbohydrate 13g; Total Sugar 13g; Protein 0g; Vitamin C 60%; vitamin B3 10%; vitamin B6 10%; vitamin B12 10%; vitamin B5 10%, Zinc 10%

Vital-t

Calories 50; Total Fat 0g; Sodium 0mg; Total Carbohydrate 13g; Total Sugar 13g; Protein 0g; Vitamin C 60%; vitamin E 20%; vitamin B3 10%; vitamin B6 10%; vitamin B12 10%; vitamin B5 10%

Stress b lemon-lime

calories 40, total fat 0g, sodium 0mg, total carbohydrate 9g, sugar 8g, protein 0g, vitamin B2 25%, vitamin B3 25%, vitamin B5 25%, vitamin B6 25%, vitamin B12 25%, vitamin C 60%, st johns wort 25mg, kava kava 25mg

Revive fruit punch

calories 50, total fat 0g, sodium 0mg, potassium 30mg, total carbohydrate 13g, sugar 12g, protein 0g, vitamin A 10%, vitamin B3 10%, vitamin B5 10%, vitamin B6 10%, vitamin B12 10%, vitamin C 60%, vitamin E 10%, gotu kola 25mg, American ginseng 25mg

Every type of Glaceau vitamin water is made using distilled water and all natural flavourings to ensure that the beneficial effects of the vitamin enhanced drink are maximised.

Rapid Weight Loss Techniques

2009-01-25T06:50:00.000-08:00

Other than physical appearance weight affects a person in many ways. This could be the overall quality of life, self-esteem, depression, health risks, and physical incapabilities. There are a lot of positive changes once a person experience weight loss. It is for this reason why a lot of people are searching for a weight loss technique that will surely trim down those fats and get a super slim head turner body.

The first thing that an over-weight should do is seek a doctor to recommend the best weight loss regimen. This will be done after a full physical examination, which leads to the determination of proper weight loss technique. And to lose weight fast and effectively four aspects of life should be changed: what to eat, how to eat, behavior and activity level.

Here are fast tips that can change an over-weight's life:

First: Fast weight loss composes of a multi-faceted technique that consists mindset, exercise, and in other cases, diet supplements. Begin by learning a diet food plan that can easily be accustomed with. Incorporate an exercise plan that allows even at least fifteen minutes a day like brisk walking, running, swimming, and dancing.

Second: Set realistic approaches. The ability to focus and have proper mindset enables someone on a diet to quickly lose those extra pounds. With discipline and proper mind set, a dieter will never be discouraged and lose focus.

Third: Listen as the body speaks. Each and everyone's body metabolism reacts differently to different fast weight loss programs and plans. Try substituting one program for another to compensate the body's reaction. Exercise program must be suitable to one's body, as others are not able to exercise as rigorously as others can. If walking is all that can be done, then walk for this is proven the best exercise. Muscles burn more calories than fats so it's also best to put on a little muscle and looking good too.

Fourth: Eat more fibers for it makes a person full sooner and stays in the tummy longer, slowing down the rate of digestion. A single serving of whole grain bread moves fat through the digestive system faster. Grains turn into blood sugar that spikes the body's insulin level. Thus, making the body more energized and ready to tell the body when it should stop burning fats or start storing.

Fifth: Keep away from fried foods especially deep-fried as this contains a great amount of fat. Although fish and chicken appear leaner than beef, this white meat can contain more fat than when a beef is fried. It is recommended for those on strict diet to opt for grilled food as this does not have or contain less amount of fat after the food is cooked.

Sixth: Takes lots of fluid. Drinking at least six to eight glasses of water a day keeps the body refreshed. Since weight loss depends on how the body eliminates body wastes, the body must stay hydrated.

All in all, discipline and consistency is still the best practice and the key to a rapid weight loss success. Light dieting, workout, and right amount of supplementation applied in a regular way everyday will result in faster weight loss than having a massive action only to be followed a return to old habits as this would only lead to gaining more weight than when the weight loss plan has started.